Parents want Irvine Co. to help with footbridge

Danette Goulet

NEWPORT COAST -- Frustrated Newport Coast parents are demanding the

Irvine Co. take some responsibility for the community it planned.

Parents drafted a letter to the corporation asking that it do the

“socially responsible thing” by helping the community solve traffic

safety issues at its new elementary school.

“They are the ones who master-planned the whole community and decided

where everything would go,” said Dana Schonwit, executive vice president

of the Newport Coast Elementary School PTA. “We’re so tired, as a parent

group, of being the only ones involved and the only ones to roll up our

sleeves.”

Newport Coast Elementary School will sit on the corner of Newport Coast

Drive -- a six-lane highway with a speed limit recently reduced to 55 mph

-- and Park Ridge Road, a street with a steep incline and a speed limit

of 40 mph. The campus is scheduled to open in the fall with 350 students.

Most of the students live within a two-mile radius, Schonwit said.

Parents said they are terrified that a child crossing the busy highway

will be struck by a speeding car.

For months, a group of parents whose children will attend the new school

have been crusading for the construction of two footbridges to ensure the

safety of the students. One of the sources parents have turned to for

help is the Irvine Co.

Paul Kranhold, a spokesman for the developer, said although the company

no longer has authority at the site, it would consider the possibility of

helping out.

“The county is the one that sets the speed limit and the land that were

talking about is the school district’s land,” Kranhold said.

However, if those two agencies identify a safety issue, Kranhold said the

corporation may become involved.

“If the district, which has responsibility of the school, and Orange

County, which has responsibility over highway safety, agree that there is

a legitimate safety issue and agree that the Irvine Co. can play a

constructive role, then of course we’d be willing to participate,” he

said.

But parents said that despite a slow beginning, they feel they have made

progress in discussions with the district and the county, but not with

the Irvine Co.

“I think there’s a feeling from the school district, the county and the

city that they are going to address the issue,” said parent Steve Fink.

“I don’t get that same feeling from the Irvine Co.”

Newport-Mesa Unified School District has agreed to transport children who

live on the other side of Newport Coast Drive by bus, relieving some

safety concerns.

In an effort to resolve other worries -- after months of talking

individually with county, city, school district and Irvine Co. officials

-- parents are looking for a meeting with everyone involved. Fink said

they hope to sit down together near the end of the month.

“Every day that goes by is a day that the school will be open without a

bridge, and that a child will be at risk,” he said. “So the parent group

is starting to feel some urgency.”