Catching up with -- Corona del Mar Plaza

Amy R. Spurgeon

NEWPORT BEACH -- Four years ago, the future of the Irvine Co.’s Corona

del Mar Plaza shopping center appeared grim.

Planners were caught off-guard by residents’ fears that the center would

be a traffic magnet with vehicles entering and exiting on MacArthur

Boulevard.

With residents flooding City Hall with complaints, the plans were

changed. An exit was eliminated from MacArthur and the entrance was moved

south, toward Coast Highway.

While that move appeased the residents, it prompted the center’s major

tenant, Mrs. Gooch’s Market, to pull out of the plaza.

That was a major blow to Irvine Co. officials, who later rebounded by

luring big stores like Bristol Farms market, Cowboy Seafood and Tommy

Bahamas restaurants. Today, shoppers flock to the center that opened in

1998.

But still lingering are the parking lot problems that have existed since

the center’s birth. And many still hope an exit onto MacArthur Boulevard

will appear someday.”It’s a hassle to get out of here,” said shopper

Charlotte Pelzer of Tustin. “It would be better not to have to zigzag out

of here to go home.”

Los Angeles resident Joan Couturier agreed.

“It would be more convenient having an exit and a light on MacArthur. It

is a major thoroughfare,” she said.

Originally, plans for the upscale retail center -- located at the

intersection of Coast Highway and MacArthur Boulevard -- called for the

main entrance to be further north on MacArthur with a traffic light and

exit option.

But Harbor View Hills homeowners argued that customers would cut through

their community and tie up MacArthur Boulevard to the point the street

would eventually need to be widened to six lanes.

Now, the main problem is the exit, where cars meet in chaos at the

four-way intersection near Avocado Avenue and Corporate Plaza.

Cars leaving the Newport Beach Public Library and the plaza tend to

converge at that point.

One Bristol Farms employee said the intersection is a series of “near

hits and misses.”

Alisha Woodford, Bristol Farms’ customer service assistant manager, said

the intersection is a problem because people become confused over the

multitude of stop signs, sometimes barreling through them.

Woodford also said customers rarely enter the plaza at MacArthur

Boulevard because it’s hard to see.

City Traffic Engineer Rich Edmonston said during the plaza’s approval

process four years ago, it was agreed upon that should any traffic

problems related to the center arise, the Irvine Co. and the city would

have to sit down to reevaluate the situation.

Edmonston said that since the center opened, he has received only one

complaint about the intersection from a library employee.

Irvine Co. spokesman Paul Kranhold said he expects traffic and parking

issues to improve as the center grows older.