Apartment Building

ON THE AGENDA PERMIT PROCEDURES The council will give final consideration to a law that would replace the modifications committee with a zoning administrator. The committee has authority over small zoning-code issues. The zoning administrator will be a Planning Department staff member appointed by the planning director. The intent of the change is to improve communication between the city departments and enhance decision making, council members said.

ON THE AGENDA Here are some items to be considered by the Newport Beach Planning Commission tonight. AFFORDABLE HOUSING The commission will consider whether the owners of a six-unit apartment building that now includes four units of affordable housing at 206 E. Balboa Blvd. can demolish the building to replace it with three single-family homes that would not qualify as affordable housing. WHAT TO EXPECT Staff members have conducted several studies to determine the best way to approach the issue.

Jennifer Kho COSTA MESA -- After six years of providing after-school tutoring and an academic refuge for students, the Shalimar Learning Center has closed its doors. And there is a question of whether the center will ever reopen -- at least at its current location, said Randy Barth, volunteer chairman of Think Together, the organization that oversees Shalimar and five other learning centers. "We felt physically threatened last week and we're not going to put center staff or volunteers in that position," Barth said.

While the majority of Newport Beach City Council members generally approve of a $90-million construction project that would replace an old apartment building on Carnation Avenue with an eight-unit luxury condo complex, the decision on the project will have to wait till Sept. 9. Issues concerning the Aerie project were aired Tuesday night with advocates and opponents making their cases in a public hearing that lasted about three and a half hours. The project, as proposed, would take over a coastal bluff where an unused apartment building stands.

Lolita Harper Here are some of the decisions made by the Costa Mesa Planning Commission at Monday's meeting: VICTORIA STREET PARKING WHAT HAPPENED: The Planning Commission granted a change for parking requirements at 248 Victoria St. The property was formerly a 10-unit apartment building that was cited for substandard housing conditions and ultimately abandoned. The owners, South Coast R.E. Investments, bought the land with the intention of improving the apartment building.

The funniest gag in South Coast Repertory's West Coast premiere of "Lobby Hero," is the title itself. The central character in playwright Kenneth Lonergan's examination of urban life on the night shift is anything but heroic. Jeff, the security guard on the graveyard watch at a Manhattan apartment building, is a well-meaning nebbish who can't seem to do anything right. In fact, he turns indecision into an art form. And when he does commit himself in one direction or the other, it proves to be an unfortunate choice.

A quick-thinking neighbor extinguished a fire in a Balboa Peninsula apartment Friday afternoon. Joe Bardes was getting ready to take a boat ride about 1:30 p.m. when he smelled something burning. He ran to the apartment building next door in the 2100 block of East Balboa Boulevard. With a cell phone in one hand, he grabbed a garden hose with the other and popped open the door as he was calling 911. Bardes, who drew on his experience as a firefighter in New Jersey, was able to put out the fire before it caused to the first-floor, one-bedroom apartment and before fire crews arrived at the scene, about three minutes later.

In the coming weeks, Newport Beach officials will begin the long, detailed and at times tedious process of bringing more affordable housing to the city. It is far from the most glamorous part of their jobs. It involves calculating percentages of "housing units," putting into place specific programs to encourage developers to build low-income housing and even determining what "low-income" means. But it will be among their most important jobs, and potentially among their most outstanding legacies because of a simple fact of life: Everybody grows old. City officials have acknowledged that Newport Beach's increasing senior population -- already a fourth of residents -- is demanding more affordable housing be built.

A Huntington Beach woman was arrested early Wednesday on charges of driving under the influence after she crashed her SUV into a Costa Mesa apartment complex, Costa Mesa police said. According to police, Dana Lynn Burkhouse, 22, was speeding in her 2005 Honda SUV just after midnight when she crashed through four fences and collided with two buildings and a parked car on Maple and Victoria streets. A 2-by-4 board smashed through the windshield of her vehicle and nearly struck her head, police said.

Three apartment buildings on Costa Mesa's Westside could be razed and turned into a park, but only if City Council members decide to buy them and also can find the cash. The Council Tuesday will have a closed-door discussion about whether to negotiate for properties at 791, 795 and 799 Shalimar Drive. Costa Mesa City Manager Allan Roeder said city officials might be interested in buying the land to create a small neighborhood park or open space for the area. The Westside has a shortage of park facilities, and the Council would be following a trend started in February when the city bought a parcel on the Eastside that will be combined with the adjacent Brentwood Park.