Developer Will Restudy Plan for 121-Slip Marina in Newport Bay : Environment: Newport Council delays action on project, which would extend onto public tidelands, after hearing from supporters and opponents.

A development firm announced Monday that it will reconsider a controversial proposal to build a 121-slip private marina for luxury vessels in Newport Harbor.

The announcement came as dozens of marina supporters and opponents expressed views at a City Council meeting.

The council agreed to delay until Feb. 10 its decision on the Castaways Marina project at the request of the California Recreation Co., an Irvine Co. branch that operates marinas elsewhere in the harbor.

Company officials had been adamant in arguing that a smaller marina proposed by the Planning Commission would not be sufficiently profitable. At Monday’s meeting, however, California Recreation Co. President Edward V. Powers said the company may revise its position after further study.

“I don’t know (whether the company will build a smaller marina),” Powers said. “We want to go back and take a look. We need more information.”

Environmentalists who oppose the project argued that the company backed down in the face of heated public opposition.

“I think the Irvine Co. has made a wise decision because they know they don’t have the support,” said Frank Robinson, a board member of Friends of Newport Bay.

The proposal approved by the Planning Commission calls for a 121-slip marina to house vessels of 35 feet or more in length. The marina be built partially on Irvine Co.-owned property and partly on public tidelands that stretch along the bay toward a state ecological reserve. The commission had debated a smaller, 84-slip marina, but approved the 121-slip plan after deciding that other agencies reviewing the project probably would trim it down.

Environmentalists, including individual residents and groups such as Friends of Newport Bay and Stop Polluting Our Newport, have argued extensively over the problems of building and operating a marina on public waters, and so close to the ecological reserve in Upper Newport Bay.

Opponents have said that they want to preserve the bay as open space and prevent the project from extending onto public tidelands. Supporters have said the proposed marina is badly needed by owners of large vessels who often have difficulty finding slips in the harbor.

If approved by the council, the project still needs to win approval from six other agencies, including the county and the state Coastal Commission.