NEWPORT BEACH : City Wants Castaways Housing Plan Redrawn

The City Council has sent a controversial housing and park development plan back to the drawing board because of last-minute changes that drew an angry reaction from the community.

The Irvine Co.’s initial proposal for open space at the planned Upper and Lower Castaways projects included a 4.8-acre park at 16th Street and Dover Avenue and a wilderness park at the point below, the headlands of the Back Bay. It also included a bluff-top bicycle trail that would connect with the city’s bicycle trail network.

But a later proposal, submitted after the Planning Commission approved the development plans Dec. 8, eliminates the bicycle trail and upper park and places the ball fields and play equipment that had been planned there in what was to be the wilderness area.

The plan also calls for filling in the existing wetlands and re-establishing them elsewhere on the development.

“I’m just sick that you would even consider going against the public trust,” said Virginia Herberts, a nine-year member of the Parks, Beaches and Recreation Committee.

The council set the proposal for a Feb. 27 public hearing and told department heads to explain the plan to neighborhood associations, youth sports groups and others in the area and get reactions.

The new proposal includes only 3.5 acres of flat, usable space. Plans show a belt of green slope surrounding two Little League baseball diamonds, a lookout point and tiered trail to the headlands below. That space is designated for a dog park and practice field for soccer and Little League.

That plan would allow the Irvine Co. to build another 21 homes on the upper gated community and would shave five or six homes from the lower tract to expand the park space. The plan would give the total project a net gain of 15 to 16 homes.

The alternative proposal was a response, in part, to complaints from Newport Harbor Lutheran Church. The Rev. Bill Kirlin-Hacketttole told the Planning Commission in November that the earlier plan would impede the view from the church.

Some residents of the neighboring area, some of whom backed a November referendum for city purchase of the entire property, said the community would get the short end of the deal.

“I think it is completely contrary to what the public wants,” resident Fritz Hauser said.

Jo Vandervort, vice chairwoman of the Parks, Beaches & Recreation Commission and the sole opposing vote on the seven-member panel, told the council that the headland is a symbol of Newport Beach that would be permanently lost.

“Don’t trade for more houses,” she said. “We don’t need more houses.”