Planners reroute St. Andrew’s plan

Michael Miller

The Newport Beach Planning Commission voted Thursday to send an

expansion proposal by St. Andrew’s Presbyterian Church back to the

City Council, prolonging the erratic journey that the church’s plan

has taken in the past several months.

Commission members voted, 5-2, to send the plan back to the

council, with amendments removing the requirement for the church to

establish a parking agreement with the Newport-Mesa Unified School

District. With the new amendments, St. Andrew’s can pursue its

expansion plan with either a school parking agreement or added

on-site spaces.

Despite voting in favor of the amendments, some commission members

said they would prefer that the church pursue an agreement with the

school district. St. Andrew’s offered Newport-Mesa a $3.5-million

package in February to expand the parking lot of Newport Harbor High

School, with the provision that the church and the school would share

the lot for at least 30 years.

“The school needs the additional parking spaces, and [the

agreement] would mean there would be that many fewer kids looking for

parking every day,” commission chairman Larry Tucker said.

However, fellow commissioner Jeffrey Cole, who also voted for the

modifications, said he thought the church’s alternate plan to

construct a 400-space parking structure on its grounds might be more

effective than renovating the Newport Harbor High School lot.

“I think more people would park in the structure than park across

the street,” Cole said.

Before voting on the St. Andrew’s matter, the Planning Commission

heard arguments from two sides of the community: the church,

represented by attorney Gary McKitterick, and a large group of

neighbors, who urged the commission not to accept the amendments.

Many in the latter group said the church’s expansion plan would cause

noise and traffic problems regardless of where the construction took

place.

“What you have before you tonight is the same application with a

thicker layer of lipstick,” Linda Adams, vice president of the

Newport Heights Improvement Assn., told the commission.

“I don’t think there is any of you people who would like to see a

great excavation across the street from your home,” added Willard

Courtney, a resident of the neighborhood since 1950.

Tucker said he did not know when the City Council would examine

the matter again. On April 26, the council voted unanimously to send

the matter back to the Planning Commission for reevaluation.

Ultimately, the council has authority to vote for or against the St.

Andrew’s expansion plan.

In December, the Planning Commission gave the church expansion a

recommendation but added a list of conditions for St. Andrew’s to

meet, including an agreement that the church would share parking with

Newport Harbor High School. At the board of education meeting April

12, Supt. Robert Barbot ruled that the district should not decide on

the parking agreement until the church had resolved the expansion

plan with the city.

Following the school board’s decision, St. Andrew’s building

committee chairman Ken Williams wrote to the city asking for a

modification to the Planning Commission’s resolution. The letter

requested that St. Andrew’s be able to satisfy parking requirements

either with on-site or off-site spaces, and that it not be bound to

an agreement with Newport-Mesa.

Two weeks ago, St. Andrew’s submitted a revised version of the

December resolution to the Planning Commission. In the amended

conditions, St. Andrew’s could build a 400-space parking facility on

its site and also use the Newport Harbor High lot for any remaining

commuters.

The Planning Commission ruled in December that the church must

have at least 600 parking spaces available, including ones at the

school. Despite the lack of an official parking agreement, St.

Andrew’s has long shared the 252-space parking lot at Newport Harbor

High when school isn’t in session.

* MICHAEL MILLER covers education and may be reached at (714)

966-4617 or by e-mail at [email protected].