NEWPORT BEACH : OCTD Board to Vote on Transit Facility

County transit officials will decide Monday whether to proceed with plans for a new, $2.2-million transportation facility in Newport Center.

The plans, which call for nine bus bays, passenger shelters and park-and-ride spaces for 75 autos, are scheduled for a vote at Monday’s meeting of the Orange County Transit District board in Garden Grove.

OCTD already has regional transportation centers in downtown Santa Ana, Laguna Hills and Fullerton, with two slated for Huntington Beach and others being considered for Brea and Orange.

The centers essentially are bus terminals with commuter parking, telephones and restrooms. In a few cases, however, the sites include air rights sold to developers who then build rental office space above the bus facilities.

Current plans do not include office space above the Newport Beach bus terminal, which would be built between MacArthur Boulevard and Avocado Avenue, just south of San Joaquin Hills Road and adjacent to the financial plaza in Newport Center.

OCTD officials say they hope the new facility can reduce automobile traffic. An OCTD staff report adds that the proposed transit center “will significantly enhance bus operations.”

The California Coastal Commission, as part of its approval of the development of Corporate Plaza at the southern tip of Newport Center, voted in 1976 to seek a site from the Irvine Co. for a transit center.

Negotiations over OCTD’s acquisition of the site from the Irvine Co. are expected to be concluded soon, according to an OCTD staff report.

Funds for the project will come from both OCTD and a grant from the U.S. Urban Mass Transit Administration, district officials said.