NEWPORT BEACH

Federal environmental experts and local beach activists are waiting for the Irvine Co. to release a new drainage plan for the heavily scrutinized development proposed above Crystal Cove State Park.

Irvine Co. executives, who will seek a key permit from the California Coastal Commission in April, have made several changes to their proposal during the last year.

The revised plan apparently will eliminate a detention basin--one that has been a point of contention with activists. They worry that the drainage system would destroy sensitive wetlands and taint the ocean water. Instead, planners are developing a design with six smaller basins to catch the runoff.

Residents near Crystal Cove have been fighting the project to build 635 homes in an area they consider environmentally sensitive. They are concerned that runoff from the development could contaminate the pristine beach if waste water is not properly collected.

But members of local preservationist groups said they are enjoying a recent cooperative turn in their relationship with the major development company.

“Everything that has been put before the Irvine Co., they are addressing,” said George Hrebian, a volunteer with the Alliance to Rescue Crystal Cove, who met this week with the developers and U.S. Environmental Protection Agency officials.