NEWPORT BEACH : Irvine Co. Plan Clears City Planning Panel

An Irvine Co. plan to build a 173-home gated community between Jamboree Road and the Back Bay in Newport Beach has won the approval of a short-staffed Planning Commission.

But environmental concerns must be resolved with state and federal agencies before the plan can go forward.

As planned, the Newporter North development’s northern boundary is San Joaquin Hills Road and the southern boundary is adjacent to the Hyatt Newporter resort. The single-family houses would be built on 30 acres; almost 60 more acres would be given over to open space.

Homes would be on the top of the bluff, with a wilderness park in John Wayne Gulch below. The plans include a 12-foot-wide public bicycle trail on the bluff top around the housing development and a pedestrian trail below in the gulch.

But the area is peppered with coastal sage scrub that is a habitat for the gnatcatcher, a bird that is on the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Department’s list of species threatened with extinction.

“The Newporter North site is probably the most environmentally sensitive of the (Irvine Co.’s planned housing) parcels,” advance planner Patricia Temple told the commission last Thursday.

In a recent environmental survey, four nesting pairs and two solo male gnatcatchers were discovered, she said. That has caught the eye of federal officials, who want to make sure the birds are protected.

The Irvine Co. is subject to federal regulations protecting threatened species and their habitats, even though the city has approved the project.

Wildlife officials could forbid grading in areas where it would be required to construct the bicycle trail.

That leaves the bicycle trail--which is planned to connect with others in the city’s network--in question, because home buyers could mount a legal challenge to building it if the environmental issues are not resolved and the trail isn’t finished before the homes are occupied.

Another concern is an ongoing lot line dispute. Two survey maps show the tract property lines in different places, so the commission gave permission for lot line adjustments, if the shorter boundary line is found to be accurate.