NEWPORT BEACH : Committee to Study Newport Ave. Zoning

The City Council agreed this week to name a committee that will formulate a plan to allow residences on the all-commercial side of Newport Avenue.

Property owners have been lobbying for the change, arguing that both residential and commercial uses should be permitted on land they own on the west side of the street. Property owners on the east side of the street are allowed both uses.

The oddly zoned street, which runs parallel to Newport Boulevard between Orange and Westminster avenues, has long been subject to different zoning.

Landowners on the west side of the street, headed by property owner Owen Minney, have tried to persuade the city to change the zoning so their properties can have wider opportunity for development, as do property owners on the east side of the street.

About 18 months ago, they succeeded in winning Planning Commission approval for a similar zoning plan, but it was eventually defeated by the City Council.

The council decided Monday to form a citizens committee to study the issue and formulate a plan. The council will name the members at a later meeting, but the committee will be made up of property owners in the area, representatives of the residential association in the Newport Heights community, and members of the area’s business community.

The council considered postponing the committee’s formation because of the heavy workload in the city Planning Department.

“I personally feel it would be helpful to the department if we could delay this,” Planning Director James D. Hewicker told the council.

But the council sided unanimously with Councilman John C. Cox Jr., who said that the committee would probably need some time to become familiar with the project and that the Planning Department would not need to become actively involved until later in the year.