— Photo courtesy Shubin + Donaldson Architects
Revitalizing the Lido Village is one step closer Wednesday.
The California Coastal Commission unanimously approved the city’s request to change the land use designation of a .4-acre parcel located at 3303 Via Lido from private institution to multiple unit residential.
The action is part of the Lido Villas project, which consists of the demolition of a three-story commercial building, a single-story church building (First Church of Christ, Scientist), and a 56-space surface parking lot, with re-development plans for 23 multi-family townhomes with 2-story views and high-end amenities.
“We think this element, this change, will help strengthen our commercial corridor,” said Newport Beach Principal Planner, Jim Campbell, at the CCC meeting. “We’ve got a lot of nice plans for Lido Village.”
Additional applications for the plans will go before the commission sometime in the summer, he added.
The project is part of the city’s overall plan to revitalize the Lido Village area.
Surrounding the project site are other land use designations that “encourage higher priority uses that provide opportunities for the public to enjoy the coast,” said CCC Program Analyst Matt Stone, who presented the item to the commission.
Wednesday’s land use plan change will serve to support those uses, he added.
“The primary issue raised by this amendment request is the adequate provision of visitor-serving commercial uses, coastal-dependent and coastal-related uses, and lower cost visitor and recreation facilities,” Stone explained.
The change in designation, while not a high priority use under the Coastal Act, Stone noted, would not result in the reduction of those uses or facilities.
“The amendment would not affect the provision and/or maintenance of the existing uses in the surrounding (Lido Marina Village) area, and a new residential use on this site would be compatible with and will support such priority uses in this location,” Stone said.
Land use designations for adjacent properties were changed from multiple-unit residential to mixed-use vertical and approved by the Commission in November 2012, thereby providing the opportunity for additional higher priority uses in an area where none had previously existed, staff notes in the report. So the change is consistent with the pattern of development and uses in the surrounding area, the report explains.
In November, city council unanimously approved (with councilman Mike Henn recusing himself because of a business relationship) amendments to the general plan, coastal land use plan, and zoning code, a site development review, tentative tract map, and mitigated negative declaration, allowing for the development of the Lido Villas.
The project was previously reviewed, discussed and approved by the planning commission.
Lansing, Mich.-based DART Development and Southern California- based Shubin + Donaldson Architects are behind the project.
