Homeowners Relieved by Ruling : Encroachments: Newport Beach guidelines allow some residents to keep more land than expected. But Coastal Commission must first approve plan.

Jeanette Spruill walked around the back of her beachfront house Tuesday, pruning small ice plants beside the carefully landscaped patio on which her family has enjoyed 19 years of ocean breezes.

But because of a City Council vote Monday night, Spruill and her husband must now lop off 2 1/2 feet from the patio because it encroaches on the public right of way. The council’s decision, however, brought relief to Spruill and other homeowners who stood to lose up to 27 feet from their backyards and have a sidewalk installed behind their homes.

“It’s OK; we certainly aren’t going to argue about it,” said Spruill, one of 63 homeowners affected by the council’s decision. “We certainly are happy, no matter what, if we don’t get a sidewalk. The sidewalk brings so much traffic and so much noise.”

The beachfront encroachment issue now moves to the state Coastal Commission, which must approve all changes in policy concerning the use of coastal land. And indications are that the Coastal Commission will go along with the council’s decision only if the city extends an oceanfront concrete path that now runs from F Street to 36th Street.

On Tuesday, Coastal Commission Deputy Director Tom Crandall reiterated that the two issues are linked.

“Ultimately, it will be the commission that will be making the decision on the appropriateness of the policy,” Crandall said. “But we haven’t changed our stance regarding the linkage or trade-off between allowing the encroachments and the sidewalk extension.

In an Oct. 4 letter to the Newport Beach Planning Department, Crandall said that “(as) mitigation for the encroachments, we feel strongly that public access must be enhanced by providing a hard surface oceanfront sidewalk (between the homes and the water).”

But many residents on both sides of the current concrete path have said that they object to the extension.

“It’s just a different world down there, where the boardwalk is, and I wouldn’t want to live there,” Spruill said. “We’ve lived here 19 years, and my son, who is in a wheelchair, he said that he probably couldn’t live here if the sidewalk went through.”

Peninsula Point residents oppose the concrete path so strongly that they told their homeowners’ association that they would give up their encroachments rather than put up with the increased congestion and noise of the walkway.

“I oppose a boardwalk because of all the attendant problems that go along with a boardwalk--the litter, the noise, the increased policing problems that the city has to deal with,” said Charles Munns, a west Newport resident who will also have to move his retaining wall in by two feet. He added that beach-goers in west Newport are more limited by lack of parking than by access to the sand.

Throughout the yearlong debate on the encroachments, the council heard from many people on both sides of the sidewalk extension issue. But at Monday’s meeting, council members emphasized that they would not consider approving an extension simply because the Coastal Commission staff recommends it.

“We saw a video in here the other night (of the boardwalk) . . . and it’s a sad situation,” said Councilman Phil Sansone. “It’s an accident looking for a place to happen.

“And regarding an edict from the Coastal Commission, I have serious doubts that the state can dictate on a municipality without coming up with some money to pay for it.”

Jerry Cobb, who headed a citizen’s task force to study the problem for more than a year, said he doesn’t expect the commission to reject the plan outright.

“I do think the Coastal Commission will adopt whatever the city goes up there with,” Cobb said. But, he added, “the Coastal Commission could tie us up for a long time if they don’t agree with our plans for enhancing beach access.”

Homeowners have one year to trim their patios and decks to comply with the new regulations, which include an annual permit fee of $300 to $600. Property owners from 36th Street to the mouth of the Santa Ana River will be allowed to keep their patios and small decks as long as they do not extend more than 15 feet onto the public right of way.

Homeowners in the Peninsula Point district, which begins at about F Street and stretches as far west as the Wedge, have said that they will voluntarily remove any patios or decks on the beach. Residents of homes between A Street and F Street will be allowed 7 1/2 feet of patio decking, from their property lines to the concrete path, the council decided.

“I’m very satisfied,” said Sterling Wolfe, who will have to slice one foot off his deck. “There was plenty of time for public input and plenty of time for debate.”

City staff will now prepare the final wording of the encroachment policy, said City Manager Robert L. Wynn, and the Coastal Commission will then set public hearings on the matter.

ENCROACHMENT GUIDELINES 15-foot encroachments allowed here 7 1/2-foot encroachments allowed between property lines and boardwalk from A Street to F Street No encroachments allowed between F Street and Harbor entrance