Local Issues, Projects Discussed at Town Meeting

More than 150 Corona del Mar residents gathered this week to discuss community issues, learn about local projects and hear reports on the state of CdM business.

The Corona del Mar Business Improvement District held their annual town meeting Wednesday evening at Sherman Library and Gardens. The event also included a community expo, speakers panel and an address from the CdM Resident’s Association.

Bernie Svalstad, chairman for CdM BID, spoke about the group’s vision plan for the year, accomplishments from last year and areas of focus, which included beautification enhancements and safety projects.

CdM BID administrator Bob Quaid from Willdan Financial Services gave a financial report for the previous fiscal year.

Fern Nueno, an associate planner for the city, briefly spoke about the parking management study.

“We’re trying to evaluate parking in Corona del Mar and figure out how we can make parking convenient for the businesses, residents and visitors in the area,” Nueno said.

They’ve been working on the study for about a year, Nueno said. A consultant was brought in last July, she continued, and the city has held two public workshops. The final plan is almost complete, she said.

“It’s been a lot of work, but fortunately, finally, I think some tangible things are starting to evolve,” said Jim Walker, owner of The Bungalow Restaurant, president of the Newport Beach Restaurant Association BID, and a member of the CdM BID Advisory Committee.

The study shows there is sufficient parking in the area, but there are “hot spots,” Nueno explained, problem areas that get crowded at certain times.

“The findings show that there’s not really a parking shortage in Corona del Mar, just that we need to better manage it,” Nueno said.

The strategies they have come up with deal with these issues, she said, and try to make parking more convenient.

Ideas include changing the parking code to be more accommodating to the community, establishing designated employee parking, and pooling the valet services to be more efficient, partnering with private business to share parking, community shuttle with parking drop-off zones, among others.

“We’re looking at every strategy that we feel is available to us,” Walker said. “Down the road, as we implement these strategies, hopefully we won’t only increase the parking, but we’ll make the parking much more efficient and much more available and consequently increase the viability of this community.”

Dan Herman of Rabben/Herman Design Office discussed the flower mosaic design project.

The project breaks down into three major pieces, he explained.

“The first piece is, ‘What is the big idea?’ The second piece is, ‘How does that idea manifest itself or do we apply it?’ And then finally, ’How do we implement it?’” Herman said.

The idea would include incorporating the flower streets namesakes into the design. The flower streets are unique to the Corona del Mar community, he said, and sets CdM apart from other coastal towns.

The plan is comprised of five components, which would vary depending on the street name, Herman explained. He used Marguerite Avenue as the example street.

All five components would include: A large flower medallion in the middle, a flower design on the crosswalks, smaller medallions on the sidewalk at the intersections, potted flowers, and flower street signs.

“We would like to try to represent the street name with the flowers and the colors and develop a pattern,” Herman said.

How much of the plan is implemented depends on the amount of money that is approved to spend on the project, Herman said. At the maximum, Marguerite would get all the components. The minimum could just be the sidewalk flowers and potted plants.

It’s a long-range project, he said. It may include a contribution program from homeowners.

“You can imagine how distinctive it would make the city,” he said. “We think it’s something very unique and something only your community can do.”

Most audience members applauded the presentation. Only one resident spoke during public comment, questioning if she and others still had the opportunity to vote against the idea if they didn’t like it.

The idea still has to be approved by the city council, pointed out Nancy Gardner, councilwoman for the Corona del Mar district, and members of the public will have plenty of opportunity to voice their opinions.

“There will be community outreach before anything like this is decided on,” Gardner said.

The Corona del Mar Resident’s Association also gave an address and held a panel discussion, “The More We Know: Amending the General Plan.”

The panelists explained the proposed amendment to the general plan land use element.

Speakers included the city’s community development director Kim Brandt, and deputy community development director  Brenda Wineski, and Stop Polluting Our Newport board members Dorothy Kraus and Nancy Alston.

Resident’s Association board member Debbie Allen moderated the discussion.

The half hour discussion was “in no way enough time for you to understand this very complicated issue,” Allen said, but was more of an “introduction” to the issue.

City council initiated the project last May, Brandt explained.

“They felt that it was important for the city to comprehensively look at city land use element,” which had not been done since the early 2000s, she said.

Along with staff, the Land Use Element Advisory Committee identified 18 areas throughout the city for potential change.

Brandt pointed out three areas with substantial changes proposed: Newport Coast, around John Wayne Airport, and Newport Center/Fashion Island.

She highlighted a few of the proposed changes, including increasing the commercial square footage at the sports museum location in Newport Center by 15,000 square feet and removing the Beacon Bay Car Wash to construct a 125-room hotel with ancillary commercial at 25,000 square feet.

The crowd voiced some displeasure at the hotel idea and a resident questioned it later during public comment.

Krause spoke on behalf of SPON, voicing some concerns of the proposed amendment.

“We’re concerned about what’s happening in our city,” Kraus said. “These changes, we feel, are extensive and are being considered in a piecemeal fashion, along with many other small land use changes in the city’s pipeline.”

It’s “not appropriate,” she added.

“It’s eroding our quality of life and spoiling Newport Beach’s unique residential community character, which we all value and treasure,” Kraus said.

Kraus also gave audience members some issues to ponder, including: Does the reason behind the amendment make sense? How will residents benefit? What are the cumulative traffic impacts?

Both Brandt and Kraus encouraged residents to contact planning commissioners and city council members.

Allen emphasized that Brandt and Wineski are city staff members, not decision-makers. They will present the proposal to the planning commission and then the city council, who will vote on the matter in June. Both the commission and council will be able to make changes and hear public input before voting whether or not to forward the proposal on to the next step. If city council approves the amendment, it will be placed on the ballot for residents to vote on in November.

A draft report is now available for public review online and at city hall and the library. The comment period ends on April 30.

For more information, visit cdmvillage.com, cdmra.org, spon-newportbeach.org, and the Land Use Element Amendment Advisory Committee page listed HERE under “Current Projects & Issues” on the city’s website at newportbeachca.gov.