NEWPORT BEACH : Coast Panel Rejects Encroachment Plan

The state Coastal Commission on Wednesday rejected a set of proposals by the city of Newport Beach to deal with hundreds of patios, spas and decks that illegally intrude onto the beach in an area stretching from the Santa Ana River mouth to nearly the end of the Balboa Peninsula.

In a split decision, commissioners supported key parts of the plan but wanted city officials to come up with more ways to increase public access along stretches of coast where the encroachments are the most extensive.

The ruling stalls a city plan adopted in October to limit oceanfront encroachments to no more than 15 feet and issue permits with annual fees of up to $600. More than 295 homes, including a few with patios extending more than 25 feet beyond their property lines, would be affected.

The city’s plan, which was opposed by the Coastal Commission staff, failed to garner seven votes needed for approval during the commission’s regular meeting at Marina del Rey. The vote was 5 to 5, with one member abstaining.

“My first impression was disappointment, but now I’m persuaded that we have made a lot of progress on this,” said Jerry L. Cobb, a beachfront homeowner who heads Newport Beach’s Ocean Front Encroachment Committee.

Commissioners, who regulate and approve coastal development, seemed amenable to the city’s proposals for fees and a 7 1/2-foot encroachment up to the sidewalk in a four-block area east of the Newport Beach Pier.

But there was no consensus on whether to allow a 15-foot encroachment for the west Newport area, where most of the offending patios are located. Commissioners said they wanted to see more proposals to increase public access in west Newport before they considered any limits on patio size.

Most of the commissioners, however, rejected a recommendation by their own staff to build a beachfront sidewalk in west Newport as a way to increase access--a proposal long opposed by the city and beachfront property owners.

“I object to paving any more of this beach or any other beach,” said Commissioner Donald McGinnis, who said the unpaved area of the beach should be left for picnicking and families. “The beach is for people to use. . . . You ever try to play volleyball over a sidewalk? Ever tried to play Frisbee over a sidewalk?”

Commissioner Steve MacElvaine agreed, saying: “I would hope it would never be the policy of this commission to pave any public beach.”

To help satisfy the commission’s concerns, Cobb said the city could propose increasing Newport trolley service to west Newport, pave beach-access points, and put utility lines underground on Seashore Drive between 36th and 54th streets to improve the sidewalk.

“If we had had those things in our presentation today,” Cobb said. “I think they would have overwhelmingly accepted the proposal.”