CORONA DEL MAR : Sewer Construction Put on Back Burner

In response to opposition from residents and businesses, the Irvine Co. has decided not to press for construction of a sewer line through downtown Corona del Mar before completion of the Pelican Hill Road bypass.

“We are not pushing for that decision from (the city of Newport Beach) and the county sanitation district,” said Dave Dmohowski, vice president of entitlement for Irvine Pacific, a division of the Irvine Co. “We would certainly support that, but we believe there are other alternatives.”

The Irvine Co. and county sanitation officials had considered asking Newport Beach to rescind a resolution prohibiting sewer construction through Corona del Mar before completion of the bypass road.

Residents and commuters have looked forward to the construction of the new road from East Coast Highway to MacArthur Boulevard, hoping that it would alleviate traffic in the area by about 15,000 cars a day, Mayor Pro Tem Phil Sansone said.

The road was scheduled to be completed before construction was to begin on the new $4.6-million sewer system serving new homes planned between Corona del Mar and Laguna Beach. But due to construction delays, the road will not be completed until the summer of 1991, about six months after the homes are ready for occupancy.

The new sewer line is planned for installation down the middle of East Coast Highway from Marguerite Avenue to the south city limits.

Until now, Irvine Co. officials were advocating that installation be made as soon as possible.

Dmohowski said the sanitation district wanted to install the new line early to avoid having to spend about $250,000 to upgrade an existing line and pump station on Poppy Avenue. Without the new gravity line, those improvements would be necessary to accommodate the new homes down the coast, he said.

“The sanitation district began this whole sewer process, and we felt it was of benefit,” Dmohowski said Thursday. “But because of the concern of Corona del Mar residents, we are not advocating installation in the business district before Pelican Hill Road is done.”

The company is now advocating the improvements on Poppy to accommodate the new homes until the new system can go in, Dmohowski said.

The Irvine Co. has offered to pay the estimated $250,000 for the sewer improvements, Dmohowski said.

Tom Dawes, sanitation district director of engineering, said the district never advocated that the sewer line go in before Pelican Hill Road.

“Sure, it would be helpful and save costs to get it in early, but we’re here to serve everybody,” he said Friday. “I’m surprised (the Irvine Co.) is no longer advocating the early schedule. That makes this a lot easier for us.”

Sansone has met with representatives of various Corona del Mar homeowner groups and businesses to discuss the two proposals. He said the consensus is “definitely” against each plan.

“The plan to tear up the commercial district will affect businesses pretty badly,” he said. “The heavy traffic on Pacific Coast Highway has already hurt the businesses downtown.”

Regarding the “Poppy Alternative,” Sansone said residents on all the narrow side streets from Poppy west to Marguerite are opposed because traffic would then be diverted to other residential streets.

“Traffic on residential streets is something residents are continuously upset about,” Sansone said. “Commuters already try to bypass downtown on those streets.”

Sansone said any acceleration of the sewer schedule is strictly “for the benefit of whomever is building those houses down there.”

“It is not a given that anybody can go in and start tearing up Poppy now,” he said.

If the issue is not resolved, the earliest there could be a public hearing is in January, Sansone said.

Meanwhile, Corona del Mar residents and commuters from Laguna Beach and points south of Newport Beach continue to look forward to the Pelican Hill Road completion.

“On a bad day, it might take me 35 minutes or more to go the seven miles,” said Peggy Achterberg, a Laguna Beach resident who has commuted to Newport Beach for five years. “The only thing that saves us is leaving early.”