Newport Beach : Museum Expansion Plan Moving Forward
The first steps in a 20-year expansion plan for the Newport Harbor Art Museum go to the Planning Commission tonight.
The broader plan involves a land swap with the Irvine Co., which owns the old library building next to the museum on San Clemente Avenue.
The Irvine Co. had offered a site on East Coast Highway near MacArthur Boulevard. But after discussions with museum executives, the company will ask instead to have a 10-acre parcel rezoned for the Newport Pavilion shopping center in a trade for the library property.
The move would give the museum another 18,000 square feet of gallery space and would allow for more growth in the future. Under the 20-year plan, the museum would expand from 23,000 square feet to 70,000 square feet.
Also on the agenda is a plan to switch the outside traffic lane on the ring section of Newport Center Drive to a parallel parking lane.
Not enough drivers use the Newport Center ring to support six traffic lanes, according to a city study. The commission will hear a request to eliminate one lane in each direction from traffic flow.
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