NEWPORT BEACH : New Appraisal Aids Land-Buying Effort

A local environmental group’s effort to preserve 133 acres of undeveloped land near Upper Newport Bay has gotten a boost.

The two pieces of property overlooking the south end of the marshy bay were appraised at nearly $70 million--about $10 million less than an earlier appraisal--officials said Tuesday.

Using the new value, the Newport Conservancy, helped by the Trust for Public Land and the Irvine Co., is hammering out a purchase price and a pay schedule for the land that was to be a 363-home development.

“It is really a last-ditch stand to save these properties that people will benefit from,” said Jean H. Watt, a Newport Beach city councilwoman and president of the conservancy. “We realize we need to act now.” The Irvine Co. has set a one-year deadline to complete the deal. If the deadline goes unmet, development plans will be pursued, said Dawn McCormick, spokeswoman for the Newport Beach-based company.

One of the two properties is between Backbay Drive and Jamboree Road, just south of San Joaquin Hills Road. The other is north of Coast Highway, bound on the west by Dover Drive and on the east by the bay.

With private donations and state funds, the conservancy hopes to acquire the money to buy one or both of those properties.

Watt concedes that the undertaking will be a scramble.

“We need the commitment on the part of the people of the city,” she said. Public support will be needed, she added, if she succeeds in placing a measure on the November, 1993, ballot to set up an assessment district to help pay for the land.