NEWPORT BEACH : Property Owners Seek Zoning Change

For years, property owners along what is called Old Newport Boulevard in Newport Beach have looked across the street at one another and wondered why the city doesn’t treat them equally.

On one side of the street, shops and homes intermingle on a street-scape that is reminiscent of downtowns of days past, when it was common architectural style to have apartments over storefronts.

On the other side, only shops are allowed to stand, a zoning rule that has angered property owners there for years as they try to use their land to the fullest.

Plans to study the area are again underway. Property owners, headed by resident Owen Minney, hope the City Council will vote in their favor. Earlier this year, Minney brought the council a petition with about 175 signatures from nearby property owners who supported changes there.

“This is the gateway to Newport Beach. Not MacArthur Boulevard . . . Newport Boulevard,” Minney said. “We want to get moving on this.”

“I’d like to see a Balboa Island where there’s stores down below and apartments up above,” added Minney, who also envisions such improvements as putting utility wires underground and building sidewalks.

The bluff-top street--which is actually named Newport Avenue and parallels Newport Boulevard between Coast Highway and about 15th Street--is wide and windy, without sidewalks or curbs in some places, and is left over from an earlier era of unplanned communities.

About two dozen shops and a few homes and apartments line the street, some still sporting older storefronts and signs that retain the character of those earlier years.

Nearly four years ago, a city committee studied the odd area, and in 1990 property owners and supporters nearly won approval to allow the mixed use of homes and businesses on what they call the island side of the street, the side closest to Newport Boulevard. But that plan was narrowly defeated by the City Council.

Councilwoman Evelyn R. Hart, whose district includes the area, says she would like to see the neighborhood studied again and possibly changed to allow better uses of property there.

Hart, however, is under investigation by the state Fair Political Practices Committee because of allegations that she has a conflict of interest because she owns a duplex near the area and has voted on issues there. State law says council members cannot vote on items if they own property within 300 feet of the area.

Until the Fair Political Practices Committee decides whether she can participate in talks and votes about the area, all plans are on hold, to the frustration of property owners like Minney who are eager to start discussing changes.

Some residents and property owners are worried that changes could pave the way for fast-food restaurants or other standard commercial businesses that would alter the old-fashioned feel of the area. Others, like Hart, hope to preserve the character of the area by banning buildings that would be too high or too close to the streets. Currently, only two-story buildings are allowed.

But Minney and supporters see no reason to wait. Minney, for example, owns an empty lot on the island side and wants to build four condos, three that would be used for housing and one closest to the street that would be a shop.

They are trying to convince the city to act more quickly on the changes to allow them to start developing their properties.