NEWPORT BEACH : Activists Oppose Development Plans

Several local environmentalists have come together to oppose a proposed development agreement between the city of Newport Beach and the Irvine Co.

The City Council will hold a long-awaited public hearing Monday night on the proposed agreement. The plans call for the Irvine Co. to pay the city $20 million in street improvements in exchange for future guarantees that will enable the company to build about 950 homes and 124,000 square feet of office space. The development would be built on the last 11 undeveloped parcels that the Irvine Co. owns in Newport Beach.

Calling itself Citizens to Save the Blufftops, the new group includes members of Stop Polluting Our Newport and the Newport Conservancy, which also want to block the development.

But a mass mailing by Citizens to Save the Blufftops urging residents to oppose the development agreement has already angered at least one Newport Conservancy member who said the notice misrepresents some facts.

A key issue is the amount of open space provided under the proposed agreement. The Irvine Co. has offered to leave 140 out of 246 acres to the city as open space and parkland. But environmentalists say the bay side Castaways and Newporter North properties--where the Irvine Co. hopes to build 360 townhomes--should also be left undeveloped. They maintain that the land is populated by wildlife, including coyotes, smaller animals and rare birds.

In response, residents formed the Newport Conservancy in hopes of raising about $80 million to buy Castaways and Newporter North from the Irvine Co. for open space preservation.

Some group members are concerned that once the city approves the development agreement, the Irvine Co. will begin building on Castaways before the conservancy can raise enough money to purchase the land.

So far, the conservancy has raised $250,000, said member Karen Evarts.

Now, residents have formed Citizens to Save the Blufftops, mainly to inform the public about the issues and encourage people to attend Monday’s public hearing, according to Evarts.

“This stems from a desire to alert the community and do it in a very rapid way,” Evarts said. “We want them to show up and question the development agreement.

Longtime resident and environmental activist Allan Beek produced the controversial flyer based upon data from a June draft of the proposed agreement. The notice questions the maximum height of 32 feet proposed for the homes, warns that the agreement “sets these rules in concrete” and advocates individual review of each project rather than “a package deal.”

But Lucille Kuehn, a former councilwoman who is on the conservancy’s advisory board, said the offshoot group’s flyer is full of misinformation. Even with the agreement, which must also receive approval from the state Coastal Commission, the Irvine Co. will be required to submit each project’s plans to city and state officials for review.

The company would not begin construction on Castaways for at least two years after city approval of the agreement, said Tom Redwitz, Irvine Co. vice president of land development.