Housing development planned near airport

Newport Beach city officials are enthusiastic about a planned development that would bring condos and apartments and other sweeping changes near John Wayne Airport.

In late July, the Newport Beach technology firm Conexant Systems submitted a plan to the city for a mixed-use community containing homes, shops, a hotel and more in the area east of MacArthur Boulevard.

Measure V, an update to the city’s general plan voters approved last November, allotted housing in the neighborhood surrounding the airport.

The company has yet to get approval for the project, but Assistant City Manager Sharon Wood and Newport Beach Chamber of Commerce President Richard Luehrs said it would be a valuable asset to the city.

“Certainly, the tax base for the city of Newport Beach would go up, because as people pay property tax, the city gets a portion of that,” Luehrs said. “Secondly, I think sales tax would increase because the people who would move into those units would look for close-by retail opportunities, and Fashion Island certainly offers that.

“I just see it as really positive for the area.”

The plan submitted by Conexant envisions small, pedestrian-friendly neighborhoods that would allow residents to shop or go to work on foot.

The area would feature large-scale residential buildings that house a number of families, with parking mostly relegated to underground structures.

Many buildings would also be mixed-use, with housing units on the upper floors and cafes, restaurants and other retail outlets on the ground.

Other ideas proposed by Conexant include a central plaza, community gardens and a dog park.

Geoffrey Le Plastrier, the president of the development management firm working with Conexant on the project, could not be reached for comment Friday.

According to Wood, the development would reduce traffic at many of the local intersections, since even those who didn’t walk to their jobs might be driving out of the area in the morning.

“It takes some of the pressure off the same-direction traffic at those intersections,” she said.