City Aids Push to Buy Lot for Park
A citizens’ campaign to buy a vacant lot and convert it into a park got a boost from the City Council, which voted to contribute $150,000 to the fund-raising drive, and from an extension of escrow, organizers said this week.
With the city’s allocation, the 15-member community group now has more than $200,000 toward the purchase of the 8,500-square-foot property at Newport Boulevard and Short Street. The group needs $300,000 to buy the site, said Jim Thompson, a leader of the campaign.
His group, called Gateway to Newport’s Balboa Peninsula Citizens Committee, wants to buy the vacant land, which used to be the site of a gas station, and turn it into a park that would welcome residents and visitors to the city’s Balboa area.
The group has made a down payment on the property but missed the Sept. 3 deadline to close the deal, meaning that the owner would have been free to consider other offers. But escrow has been extended until mid-December, Thompson said Tuesday, and “we’re going to make it.”
If the group does purchase the property, which is across Newport Boulevard from City Hall, the city would then take ownership of the park, said Peggy Ducey, assistant to the city manager. The city would pay an estimated $1,200 a year to maintain the property.
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