Zoning

NEWPORT BEACH — I attended the Harbor Commission meeting July 14, where commissioners spoke the words "Proposed Zoning Changes" and "Planning Commission." Now for some reason my mind shuts down like a fourth-grader reading his first word problem when I hear the words zoning and planning at city meetings. Early that next morning at about 4:30, my eyes opened wide and I thought to myself: "There is a layer of doubt hovering over the zoning laws in Newport Beach." So let me back up a little, because my father always told me, "you cannot fix the problem unless you know what's wrong."

NEWPORT BEACH — Planning commissioners did not approve an updated citywide zoning code Thursday night, a move that capped an extensive two-year review process with discord and confusion. Three of the commissioners voted in favor of the draft; the remaining four opposed it for various reasons. The most controversial provision would limit how large someone can build a home and, through a complicated numerical formula, determine how the front of that home must look. "I think we missed an opportunity to be creative," said Commissioner Brad Hillgren, who voted no. The City Council now has the option to appeal the commission's denial of the draft zoning ordinance.

Alicia Robinson The state will continue trying to sell a vacant 4.22-acre parcel of land at the Fairview Developmental Center, but a lower-density zoning may make it less attractive to developers. The City Council had not made a decision about the zoning at press time. Since last year, state officials have been looking to unload the property and put the proceeds toward a projected deficit of more than $8 billion. Prompted by the suggestion that the Orange County Fairgrounds be sold to bank some cash for the state, the Costa Mesa City Council last summer began to review the zoning of publicly held properties in the city that might go up for sale.

A state bill that would make drug and rehab homes comply with local zoning codes before they could get their state licenses renewed passed the Senate on Wednesday. Senate Bill 268, written by Sen. Tom Harman, will now move to the Assembly. “Residential treatment centers are an important part of the recovery process. They should be run with the absolute safety of their residents in mind. I am pleased my colleagues saw the benefit of balancing the needs of those in treatment with the safety of our neighborhoods,” Harman said in a written statement.

Lolita Harper The first test of the city's new zoning requirements was a success, planning commissioners said Monday as they denied plans to build five houses on a large Eastside lot. The commissioners unanimously turned down the owner of 258 Santa Isabel Ave., spurning his request to deviate from the city's new lot-size requirements and obtain a "planned development residential" zoning designation, which generally...

Lolita Harper COSTA MESA -- Business owners from West 19th Street plan to pack City Council chambers tonight in opposition to a possible rezoning of a small portion of the street that they say will devalue their property. Nori Bunasawa, owner of the Judo Journal at 880 W. 19th St., said he will present the City Council with a petition of about 100 signatures formally opposing any action by the city to turn what is formally called the "19th Street Transitional Zone" into a purely residential neighborhood.

Lolita Harper COSTA MESA -- Mayor Linda Dixon was successful at Monday night's City Council meeting in reopening a zoning issue for a small stretch of West 19th Street, convincing her colleagues on the dais they needed further clarification. The council voted 4 to 1 to rehear the issue, which questions whether the zoning of a portion of the busy street should be redesignated for residential use -- a designation it had more than 25 years ago. Councilman Gary Monahan dissented.

Lolita Harper COSTA MESA -- The "transitional zoning" of a small, residential portion of West 19th Street may have been lifted, but the fog that surrounds the issue is still very thick. Since the City Council voted unanimously this month to return the area formally known as the "19th Street Transitional Zone" to a purely residential neighborhood -- blocking the opening of any business that is not already established -- more questions about code enforcement and property values and rights have been raised, officials said.

The Costa Mesa City Council voted to go forward on creating a specific plan to put guidelines around the design, layout and uses at the Orange County Fairgrounds that would take effect when California sells the property. As it sits now, the city has little, if any, control on the property because it is owned by the state. But of course we all know that it will not be owned by the state come this time next year. Hence the council’s action to have a specific plan in place for that eventuality.

COSTA MESA — An assisted living and mixed-use development will be the first project to move forward that was proposed in the five-year-old Westside Urban Plans, a city administrator announced during this week's Planning Commission meeting. Nexus Development, developer of a planned 85-unit assisted living development at 1640 Monrovia Ave., will break ground in July or August, said City Planning Administrator Claire Flynn The Westside Urban Plans, which the City Council approved in April 2006, were discussed during a Planning Commission study session Monday night to update city staff and the public on their status.

The bungee-style trampoline amusement ride at the Balboa Fun Zone must find a new home at the start of the summer season, the ride's co-owner said Tuesday. RocknBounce co-owner Richard Baranoski, who operates the trampoline with his wife, said that he was notified Friday that the month-to-month lease held by the Newport Harbor Nautical Museum would not be renewed beyond June 24. "I understand that the museum is doing their thing, and they're making changes," Baranoski said.

ExplorOcean, the Newport Harbor Nautical Museum's ambitious interactive exhibit, could be completed in as little as five years, the organization's president said this week. President Rita Redaelli Stenlund led a presentation hosted by Speak Up Newport at the Newport Yacht Club on Wednesday night as part of the museum's efforts for the 34,000-square-foot attraction next to the Balboa Fun Zone. "Once we moved here, we not only felt a commitment to the mission of the museum, but we also realized the responsibility we have to the community for residing in this spot," Stenlund said of museum, which bought property on the Balboa Peninsula in 2006.

The sale of the Balboa Fun Zone carousel, which was expected to land the iconic ponies in the Westminster area by spring , has fallen through, the owner said. Buyers informed Fun Zone Rides owner Patrick Moore that the purchase of the carousel, which had been listed for $149,999 on eBay back in August, would no longer be possible following the collapse of a redevelopment project that was to be the ride's new home. Redevelopment projects statewide have fallen apart after Sacramento decided to keep funding in state coffers.

Sometimes the title of a movie tells you all you need to know about it. "Man on a Ledge"is in that category. Sam Worthington stars and spends most of his screen time as a mysterious man standing outside the 21st floor of a New York hotel, threatening to jump. Elizabeth Banks is the pretty blond detective who tries to talk him out of his suicide mission. The story starts as a police procedural familiar to viewers of TV cop shows. But it quickly enters the realm of a far-fetched caper flick.

NEWPORT BEACH — The City Council on Tuesday decided that a proposed ordinance to formally adopt the state's new Very High Fire Hazard Severity Zone Map was too puzzling and needed more public input. "Right now, even with this discussion, I'm still a little confused," Mayor Nancy Gardner said after a presentation about the maps at the council study session. About 5,000 Newport Beach homes fall within the state's Very High Fire Hazard Severity Map Zone, which includes homes along Buck Gully and Morning Canyon and stretches from Orchid down to Crystal Cove, with most of Newport Coast also is included.

Following a transpacific flight of breathtaking dimensions — we took off on a Thursday and landed on a Saturday — and a day and a half of driving up Australia's Highway 1, we arrived for dinner at a little pub. My dad and I were traveling together to celebrate his retirement. The pub was in Queensland's beautiful subtropical coastal city of Mackay. On our plates, two huge oversized fried eggs greeted us, along with a heaping slab of ham, a plump, oily sausage, and two strips of greasy bacon.

Wow! The Daily Pilot hit it out of the park. Patrice Apodaca's Nov. 12 column, "Protesters did it right at Balboa," was indeed inspiring. The young lady who put this function together is a unique and great individual. Thank you. I concur with these young activists. I was 3 months old when my dad moved our very large family from Garden Grove to Costa Mesa, and he became a famous farmer on the Westside. I have wonderful memories of the Fun Zone. Between my junior and senior year at Newport Harbor High School, I was a live-in nanny on Bay Island and often took my little munchkin in her stroller to the Fun Zone.

When the discussions about the replacement of the Balboa Fun Zone with ExplorOcean first appeared in the Daily Pilot, my wife and I followed it with interest, but I didn't feel compelled to write until I read the Sunday editorial, "Museum should pay homage to old Fun Zone. " My wife, Shirley, and I designed the renovated Fun Zone while living in a garage-over apartment on Sapphire Avenue on Balboa Island in the early 1980s. We took the ferry across to site meetings. It was a magical time for us. In designing the Fun Zone, history and context were key design elements.

Would you like to have your favorite childhood place taken away from you and made into a museum? If you answered no, then you know how we and many other people feel about the Newport Harbor Nautical Museum exhibit that is proposed for a portion of the Balboa Fun Zone. The $40-million exhibit will take the place of the Balboa Candy Store and many other buildings with extraordinary history. The people behind ExplorOcean claim they will recreate everything that they destroy, but they cannot bring back memories.

We understand and respect preservationists' desire to restore a key section of the Balboa Fun Zone to the grandeur of its heyday. We too miss the Scary and Dark Ride, the bumper cars, the merry-go-round and other amusements on the site where the Newport Harbor Nautical Museum plans to build its ambitious ExplorOcean exhibit. And we applaud the Corona del Mar High School students who took their opinions to the Fun Zone a week ago to protest the museum's expansion plans. We'd like to see more young people involved in civic activism.