Lot owner wins years-long battle

The Newport Beach City Council on Tuesday sided with a man who has fought for several years to build his dream home over the objections of Corona del Mar residents who say his garage would block a picturesque view of Newport Harbor.

The City Council voted 5 to 2 in favor of allowing land owner Kim Megonigal’s plans to build on a narrow lot adjacent to Begonia Park in Corona del Mar. Council members Don Webb and Nancy Gardner cast the dissenting votes.

The Council Chambers were packed with residents who supported and opposed Megonigal’s plans.

“Recall election,” one man shouted as the council cast their votes, while others cheered in support of Megonigal.

“We paid for the lot. We bought the view,” Megonigal said. “We’re not killing the park. It’s still going to be there. It still has a wonderful view. We have loaned that view for 13 years, free of charge.”

The resident group Friends of Begonia Park claims Megonigal’s garage would block as much as half of the public view of the water from the park. The group maintains that the view from the park belongs to Newport Beach residents, and therefore is protected by the city’s general plan.

The group collected more than 1,200 signatures on a petition to preserve the view from the park.

“Do we have to have a garage with a water view?” Friends of Begonia Park Co-President Dan Spletter asked the City Council. “I don’t know if that’s a right you have to have. You’re making a donation from the park, which loses value, to the applicant, who gains a view. We’re devaluing a public asset.”

Megonigal and his wife hope to retire to a 3,500-square-foot, three-bedroom house on the narrow, steep lot overlooking Newport Harbor they bought 10 years ago. The house has been approved by the Newport Beach Planning Commission twice, but has been held up by public opposition.

Megonigal has been through five sets of architectural plans, and he paid a $35,000 deposit on an environmental study when a biologist hired by Friends of Begonia Park found the lot might be home to a rare, protected species of protected plant.

Megonigal has trimmed about 1,000 square feet from the project and shaved off one level of the house in an effort to work with neighbors.