NEWPORT BEACH : City Council Puts Park Plan on Hold

A plan that would have allowed cars to park on city parkland was put on hold by the City Council on Monday, even though a council majority appeared to support it and dozens of audience members endorsed the idea.

Instead, the council directed a group of residents who had concerns about parking on grassland to resolve their differences with a civic group that sometimes uses the park.

“I don’t think we should be turning parks into parking lots, but there are times when you can find multiple uses of an area,” Councilman John C. Cox Jr. said.

The idea was sparked by a routine request two weeks ago by local American Legion Post 291 to use part of an adjacent park for an annual event. But the request has generated increasingly controversial discussions of the use of parkland and the need for more parking.

The American Legion routinely uses the park, which has no official name, next to its building at 215 15th St. for overflow parking at about six annual events every year, such as a chili cook-off two weeks ago. Its events are typically fund-raising activities for various community groups, such as youth clubs or the local museum.

However, Councilwoman Evelyn R. Hart criticized the practice of parking cars on grassy areas, and questioned whether this was an appropriate use of city parks.

“Turning our parks into parking lots is not a good idea,” said Hart on Monday. “This is the only grassy square in the Peninsula area from 38th Street down to the Balboa Pier. We just don’t go around parking in our parks.”

She countered concerns that there is not enough parking in the central Newport and peninsula areas and said that allowing grass and open space to house autos was not a solution.

“We could probably turn that (area) into a parking structure and it would still not be enough parking,” she said.

The plan under consideration Monday would have set a policy on such uses. Either no groups would have been allowed to use the parks as parking lots, or those groups, such as the American Legion, that need extra parking could use city parks on occasion, subject to certain conditions. Groups would need to ensure the city that they would direct traffic in an orderly fashion and would cover sprinkler heads to prevent damage.

About 30 supporters and members of the American Legion attended the meeting, occasionally clapping and cheering when the council seemed swayed to approve using parks for parked cars.

However, members of the Central Newport Beach Community Association have expressed concerns about wear and tear on the parks.

Some in the community had assumed the park belonged to the American Legion and were upset when told it was in fact a city park. They asked that it be given amenities, such as play equipment.

In coming weeks the American Legion and the community members plan to meet to discuss ways to improve the park, possibly with equipment for area children. The council plans to discuss the parking issue again after those discussions have been completed.