NEWPORT BEACH : Pipeline May Mean More Street Grief

Corona del Mar businesses and residents, already weary from seven months of water and sewer line construction tearing up Coast Highway, now face the possibility of construction eating up their streets again next year.

This time, it is Southern California Gas Co. that wants to replace its 70-year-old pipelines through Coast Highway and Jamboree Road.

Newport Beach and Corona del Mar Chamber of Commerce officials have strongly advised the gas company to consider another route, and gas company officials have agreed to do so. But the alternatives may mean tearing up some residential streets next year, according to city officials.

The gas company actually approached the city in December about the project, which involves replacing a 1920s-era, 12-inch-diameter line with one 16 inches in diameter. The Corona del Mar link is the last phase of a six-year, $3.5-million effort to replace aged lines and improve gas pressure all along the Orange County coast, according to company officials.

“This isn’t just a transmission line,” said John Amador, district manager. “The gas going through that line does serve Newport Beach and Corona del Mar.”

But back in December, the city was bracing for the massive, long-dreaded water and sewer line refurbishment to begin in January through Corona del Mar. So city officials told gas company officials that unless the gas line work could be done at the same time as the water and sewer work, they would have to come up with a different route.

The Corona del Mar Chamber of Commerce has also taken a strong stand against tearing up Coast Highway again.

The messy highway construction, which is nearing completion, and the recession have combined to cause significant drops in business for Coast Highway merchants, while residents have had to put up with seven months of traffic headaches, noted Ellen Buck, chamber administrator.

“We think we’ve had enough,” Buck said.

In a letter to the gas company, the chamber stated its vehement opposition to work on Coast Highway and recommended instead that the project go up Newport Coast Drive to get to San Joaquin Hills Road and Jamboree.

But the gas company has come up with a proposal to go through the residential neighborhoods of Poinsettia, 4th and Marguerite avenues to San Joaquin Hills Road and eventually to Jamboree.

The plans “appear to be workable, purely from a public works viewpoint,” City Engineer Don Webb said.

But Webb has warned the gas company that resident and business opposition may be strong. “They have an impossible job, trying to inconvenience the least number of people,” Webb said.

Amador said the gas company is “well aware of what the residents and business community have gone through in the last six months” and plans to discuss options thoroughly with the community.

The company has already decided to postpone work in the Coast Highway area until after January, 1993, Amador said. Meanwhile, the company will replace the line on Jamboree, to San Joaquin Hills Road, before the end of the year so work will be done before the city begins street improvements on Jamboree in January.

“We’re going to address all the concerns of the community,” Amador said.