Newport Bay Center to Honor 2 Key Families

To a new generation of hikers, joggers and other weekend warriors who enjoy Upper Newport Bay, the names Frank and Fran Robinson may not be recognizable.

But their efforts, which began nearly four decades ago, helped preserve the area for public use.

On Tuesday, Orange County supervisors are expected to name part of the new, $3.8-million Upper Newport Bay Interpretive Center in their honor.

“Their story is of a man and his wife who saved the bay, and they’re getting an appropriate tribute,” said Tim Miller, manager of the county Harbors, Beaches and Parks Division.

Frank Robinson, 81, is regarded as the grandfather of upper bay environmentalism. Ever since he and his wife, Fran, 81, moved to Newport Beach in the 1960s, the back bay has had a reputation as anything but a peaceful setting.

“There was always a war going on for something,” he said.

In one well-publicized battle, he and other Newport Beach homeowners thwarted plans by the Irvine Co. to develop the upper bay. The company lost a court fight to Robinson’s Orange County Foundation for the Preservation of Public Property, which argued that tidelands are part of a public trust that cannot handed over for development.

The developer eventually negotiated a sale of 750 acres to the state for $3.5 million that created the Upper Newport Bay preserve. As part of another settlement, the company turned over 144 acres of bluff-top areas, including the site of Upper Newport Bay Regional Park, in order to expand the nearby Fashion Island mall.

Today, there are five miles of nature trails, and the bay is visited by an estimated 1 million people a year.

The upper bay is also home to more than half a dozen rare and endangered bird species; it includes an estuary where 70% of the nation’s remaining light-footed clapper rail birds live. The bird is on the federal endangered list.

The 750-acre wetlands area is under the jurisdiction of the state Department of Fish and Game, but the additional 140 acres that constitutes the regional park is owned by the county.

The Robinsons are one of two families whom supervisors are expected to recognize at the board meeting Tuesday. The center is due to be named in recognition of Peter and Mary Muth of Santa Ana, who donated $1 million to help construct the facility.

The Muths have owned Orco Block Inc. in Stanton for more than 53 years.

Supervisor Thomas W. Wilson, who represents Newport Beach and suggested naming the center after the Muths and its exhibit room after the Robinsons, has visited the site with them and kept them updated on the facility’s construction.

“I wanted to recognize the hard work and the dedication put in by both families,” Wilson said. “They should be recognized, because they wanted to help retain something in the back bay for years to come.”

The 10,000-square-foot center, designed by architect Ron Yeo of Corona del Mar, is tentatively scheduled to open in June. Contractors dug up tons of earth to create an underground site. The facility actually looks buried, and its roof will eventually be covered with soil, allowing grasses to grow and help further conceal it.