Undeveloped Tracts to Get Their Fill

Construction is likely to begin or continue this year on the last of the city’s large undeveloped tracts of land, city planners said.

Unlike South County cities such as Mission Viejo and San Clemente, which have ample vacant property, Newport Beach has little left, planning manager Patricia Temple said.

Major development sites, most of which are Irvine Co. residential projects projected to be completed by year’s end, are:

* Upper Castaways near Dover Drive at 16th Street. Work is in progress on 119 luxury single-family homes.

* Newporter North on Jamboree Road at Santa Barbara Drive. About 140 single-family homes are under construction.

* Bay Point Apartment Project near San Diego Creek at Jamboree Road and University Drive. The apartment building, now being built, will have 300 units.

* Corona del Mar Plaza on Coast Highway at MacArthur Boulevard. Construction for the 105,000-square-foot retail center was approved by the City Council last month.

* Fletcher Jones Motor Cars on Jamboree Road near Bayview Way. The Mercedes-Benz dealer is moving to a more spacious 9-acre lot, where construction has begun.

Meanwhile, officials said, the Planning Department is updating the city’s zoning code to reflect the change in property availability and soon will begin drafting guidelines for treatment of animals displaced by construction.

Councilwoman Jean H. Watt requested the latter policy statement after an episode during the holidays when construction was halted at the Castaways site so that volunteers could trap and relocate a colony of ground squirrels.