Plans for Newport Ridge Park center get go-ahead

June Casagrande

Proponents of a $7-million community center at Newport Ridge Park won

a significant victory on Monday night when the Newport Coast Advisory

Committee voted unanimously to support the project and send it to the

City Council for approval.

“The vote was in part motivated by the fact that there was

widespread community support for the project following a lengthy and

comprehensive community outreach program,” said Jim McGee, chairman

of the committee.

Plans call for the community center to be built at the northeast

corner of Newport Ridge Park near the intersection of Newport Coast

Drive and San Joaquin Hills Road. Details of the project have yet to

be finalized, but the working concept includes three

Mediterranean-style buildings that would include a full-size

gymnasium, a stage for student performances, meeting space and other

facilities to support activities for children and adults.

Not all community members like the project. David Dahl, a resident

of Newport Ridge, said that it’s unfair to take a portion of the park

that’s owned by the Newport Ridge community as a site for a center to

serve all of Newport Coast.

“I think the taking of a park that is actively used by many owners

of the park and their children shouldn’t be done by residents who

aren’t members of the Newport Ridge community,” Dahl said.

Dahl said he believes that the council shouldn’t approve the

center until the details are finalized and that the matter should go

to a vote.

Legally, that may not be possible. The city’s pre-annexation

agreement with Newport Coast says that the procedure for considering

the community center is determined largely by the Newport Coast

Advisory Committee. The city attorney’s office is examining the

document to determine whether a vote would be appropriate, City

Manager Homer Bludau said.

The idea for the center dates back to before Newport Coast was

annexed to Newport Beach. At that time, residents and the city were

wrestling with the question of what to do with $25 million that the

Irvine Ranch Water District agreed to pay the city in return for

rights to continue providing water there.

Residents agreed that $18 million would be reimbursed to residents

in the form of assessment district tax relief and that the remaining

$7 million would be set aside for a community center, if the

residents agreed that they wanted one.

McGee said the committee has gone to great lengths to gather

resident input on the community center, which in turn led to the

committee’s decision to approve the center on Monday.

Committee volunteers manned an information booth in front of the

Pavilions Market for several weekends in September. They held a town

hall meeting in September. And, over the last several years, the

committee has communicated with residents through e-mail, direct mail

and the committee’s website.

* JUNE CASAGRANDE covers Newport Beach and John Wayne Airport. She

may be reached at (949) 574-4232 or by e-mail at

[email protected].