NEWPORT BEACH : Dunes Park Opposes Apartment Proposal

A proposal to build affordable apartments for senior citizens at Jamboree Road and Coast Highway has triggered opposition from neighboring Newport Dunes aquatic park.

At the suggestion of Mayor Phil Sansone, the Irvine Co. has agreed to consider the possibility of placing an affordable senior housing complex on the roughly five-acre site known as Bayview Landing.

But Newport Dunes officials have expressed concern that a senior apartment complex won’t mix well with the adjacent resort, particularly because of the noise created by vacationers at the park, which is open 24 hours and provides recreational vehicle camping, boating and other water sports.

Another concern is that the apartment tenants “will become active advocates for limiting the uses we have today at Newport Dunes,” said David L. Cherashore, executive vice president of the aquatic park.

“It’s not very difficult for me to envision a potential conflict naturally developing between the two land-uses,” he said. “I think it’s a bad mix.”

Cherashore said that he supports the idea of affordable senior housing but that “we think it should be placed in appropriately residential areas.”

Bayview Landing is one of the 11 undeveloped Irvine Co. properties left in Newport Beach. The city General Plan presently allows a 10,000-square-foot restaurant or a 40,000-square-foot athletic club to be built there.

The Irvine Co. now wants to change the General Plan so that affordable senior apartments are listed as a third possible development option. The General Plan amendment, which would allow up to 120 apartments, was approved by the Planning Commission earlier this month and is slated for City Council approval Aug. 24.

The proposal comes after discussions between the development firm and city officials, including Sansone, who originally suggested that the site would be perfect for what he called “very affordable housing” for “really low-income” senior citizens who live off Social Security and pensions.

Sansone said he envisions a “very nice facility” of fairly small apartment units, averaging about 700 square feet.

Transportation could also be provided, the mayor said.