Corona del Mar Today

Corona del Mar Car Show a ‘huge success’

Amid dozens of rare and expensive automobiles on display lat weekend at the Coastline Car Classic at Big Corona State Beach, one vehicle had visitors contemplating selling their homes in order to afford the purchase price — a $2 million motor coach with granite counters, a dishwasher and full-sized fridge, six televisions, walnut floors, microwave and cook top.

“This is amazing,” said Teddie Valenzuela of Azusa, who was attending the Car Classic for the first time. “We should sell our home and buy this…”

People lined up for a chance to take off their shoes and snoop around the luxury coach, which salesman Chad Stevens said is popular among movie stars and athletes. The coaches, he said, are custom made using Prevost bus shells with a starting price of $1.8 million.

“We don’t talk about mileage,” he joked. (Later he said they get about 7 miles to the gallon.)

The coach might have been the biggest vehicle, but it certainly wasn’t the oldest, loudest or fastest. Visitors could check out a 1911 Auburn, a 1937 Packard convertible, a 1931 Rolls Royce Phantom 2 Drophead Coupe and more, including muscle cars and vintage cars. Owners took home trophies, lovingly polishing their cars before driving up to collect their prizes.

The event was the seventh car show, said organizer Linda Leonhard of the Corona del Mar Chamber of Commerce.

“We get better every year,” she said.

OASIS parking rehab underway

Crews recently began a rehabilitation project on the OASIS Senior Center parking lot on the northwest corner of Marguerite Avenue and Fifth Street.

During construction of the senior center across the street, trailers were installed on the lot for OASIS offices. The facility is nearly complete, with staff moving into the new space, and the trailers are gone, city officials said. The center will be open next week to the community.

The lot will be closed during the entire rehabilitation project, which is expected to be complete by Sept. 24. Workers are scheduled to be on the site between 7:30 a.m. and 4:30 p.m. on weekdays.

The cost of the project is $149,924.50, according to the city’s website.

State: Fire danger ‘very high’ in Corona del Mar

Buck Gully, Morning Canyon and most of Corona del Mar have been tentatively reclassified as areas of “very high” fire danger by the state fire marshal, local officials confirmed.

The classification will allow the Newport Beach Building and Fire Departments to enforce building construction regulations that will harden the building to protect it from fire. The regulations will apply to new or rebuilt structures only. It will also allow the Fire Department to enforce more rigorous vegetation regulations for homes on the canyons.

Newport Coast also has been reclassified as “very high.”

Currently, those areas are classified as “special fire protection areas,” but Senate Bill 1595 sought clarification and mapping of areas that are at risk of wildfires.

In 2009, state fire officials studied Corona del Mar and Newport Coast, both aerially and on the ground, as well as used scientific computer models to decide how much of the area should be included. State budget cuts delayed the development of the tentative map for all of Orange County until just a few weeks ago.

Representatives of the state fire marshal met with all of the Orange County fire marshals to review the revised maps, and local fire officials will study these and submit comments in the next few weeks.

A final map will be submitted to the Newport Beach City Council, which will have 160 days to hold public hearings and adopt the map. The hearings likely would not take place for several months.

Fire officials have gone on record repeatedly about Corona del Mar’s fire danger, even suggesting herds of goats be used to reduce fuel in Buck Gully.

In June, 73 of 170 homes along Buck Gully were warned for having overgrown vegetation that could fuel a wildfire.

Teacher suspected of petty theft

A Mariners Church teacher was arrested and booked on suspicion of petty theft on Tuesday, police said. The woman, 56, of Newport Beach was arrested at 1:50 p.m. at 1660 San Miguel Drive. Her bail was set at $500.

Pedestrian hit by car on Newport Center drive

A pedestrian was hit by a vehicle and injured Wednesday afternoon in a parking structure at Fashion Island, police said.

The person was injured at 12:58 p.m. in the 600 block of Newport Center Drive when struck by someone driving a Mini Cooper, said Sgt. Steve Burdette of the Newport Beach Police Department.

Newport Beach Fire Department responded to the accident, and the victim was evaluated but not transported to a hospital, said Fire Department spokeswoman Jennifer Schulz.

No other details were available.