Park planned, finances not

The newest set of plans for Marina Park, a Newport Beach park overlooking Newport Harbor, include a sailboat-themed playground and a 200-foot-long dock.

The most recent estimate for how much the park will cost is about $23 million, according to city documents, but exactly how Newport Beach will pay for the project has yet to be worked out.

“I think it’s a great project, outside of city hall it’s one of most significant projects we’ve done in the city,” Mayor Ed Selich said. “We don’t have any big parks on the bay front.”

Original plans for the park, between 18th Street and the American Legion Post on 15th Street, along West Balboa Avenue, only included a playground and boat slips that were estimated to cost about $12 million, but the addition of a public marina and other goodies have made the cost of the project jump significantly.

The city has owned the land since 1919 and it has been the spot of a mobile home park since 1955.

Residents protested plans for a resort there, and now the land is slated to become a public park.

The city stands to gain about $2 million to help fund Marina Park from a development agreement approved last month with developers for the Hyatt Regency Newport Beach’s $50-million expansion project.

The city also could borrow money from the state Department of Boating and Waterways to fund part of the project, Selich said.

Newport also could fund construction on the park in part through park fees, he said.

Now plans for the park include a lighthouse-shaped restroom with an upper-level overlook where visitors can peer out over the harbor.

The playground in the park will include a blue, rubberized surface shaped like waves and a water play area that will use recycled water treated in an underground vault beneath the park.

A 10,800-square-foot community center that is part of the design will include second-floor classrooms with a 12-foot window that can open, leading to a wrap-around dock that will overlook the bay and the rest of the park.

Park plans also include a 11,200-foot sailing center with a cafe inside. A new marina would include electricity that visiting sailors could pay for with coin- and credit-card-operated machines.

Reporter BRIANNA BAILEY may be reached at (714) 966-4625 or at [email protected].