Corona del Mar Group Surveying Residents About Zoning Code Changes
The Corona del Mar Residents Association has created a survey seeking members’ opinions and knowledge about recommended changes in the city’s Zoning Code, and how those could affect the Flower Streets.
The survey, which can be found here, must be turned in by Sept. 7. The results will be tabulated by an independent research company.
The CdMRA’s president could testify about the results at the Sept. 14 City Council study session, when council members are expected to review proposed changes in the Zoning Code. Agendas are not yet public, but the CdMRA website indicates that the topic will be discussed in the 3:30 p.m. Study Session.
“”Over the years CdMRA has conducted successful resident outreach programs throughout Corona del Mar on the Zoning Code,” said Karen Tringali, president of the CdMRA. “Our results, coupled with the City’s recent outreach efforts, had a direct impact on city staff’s latest zoning code recommendations. This survey highlights these recent changes and seeks to validate community consensus on the latest proposals.”
Changes in the Zoning Code are being considered in order to bring the code into alignment with changes adopted in the city’s General Plan four years ago. City officials have been holding meetings and public hearings for years, but this summer the Corona del Mar group began to study the impact of the changes, which include spelling out floor area ratio (FAR), height restrictions and open space requirements. This summer, the CdMRA board voted to write a letter outlining the results of an earlier resident survey and asked that Corona del Mar specifically be allowed to retain its existing FAR; read the story here. At the time, board members conveyed residents’ concern that the Zoning Code changes could allow larger homes to be built on the Flower Street’s lots, destroying the area’s “seaside village” charm.
The survey asks whether the term “seaside garden village” is an appropriate description of Corona del Mar, as well as questions about whether Zoning Codes should protect the rights of property owners more than neighborhood aesthetics.
The survey also asks questions about how well respondents understand the current code and the proposed changes. The current code limits home size to 1.5 times the buildable lot size, and garage space is currently included in home size calculation. For single-family homes, a one-car enclosed garage and one carport are required; basements with seven feet or more of height are included in the home-size calculation; and visual mass above ground is regulated by open-space requirements.
The proposed Zoning Code also limits home size to 1.5 the times buildable lot size; garage space would also be included in the home size calculation. Single-family homes are required to have a two-car enclosed garage; homes greater than 4,000 square feet are required to have a three-car enclosed garage. The new code allows for a basement that is equal to the buildable lot size, and it is not included in the home-size calculation. The new code includes building requirements that are designed to create less perceived visual mass above ground, the survey states.
The City Council Study Session will take place in Council Chambers at 3300 Newport Blvd. The meeting is open to the public, and members of the public are welcome to speak. The meeting also will be video streamed live on the city’s website.
Porsche Door Sheared Off, Driver Gets Ticket
A man driving his 2011 Porsche Turbo Cabriolet opened his door today after parking in the 3300 block of East Coast Highway — just as a delivery truck drove past, tearing the door away from the car, witnesses and others said.
The incident occurred about 2:15 today when David Earl Hartman Sr. of Newport Beach opened his door just as a wine delivery service driver, who gave his name only as Sean, drove past.
Hartman said the truck driver was “coming real fast.”
“He came so close, I literally had nowhere to go,” he said.
The driver said the car door flung open suddenly against his truck, and he didn’t have a chance to stop the accident.
Witnesses said the truck driver stopped immediately after the incident.
“He (the Porsche driver) was getting out of the car, swinging his door open,” said one Corona del Mar man, who said he witnessed the entire incident and called police.
Police gave Hartman a ticket. Hartman said the officer told him, “You’re at fault, just sit there.”
Traffic was backed up northbound on Coast Highway to the Cameo neighborhoods as a tow truck began to remove the damaged Porsche. The car door and glass littered the traffic lane as officers took reports.
Hartman said the car was about eight months old and worth $185,000. No damage estimate was immediately available.
Sgt. Steve Burdette, a Newport Beach Police Department spokesman, did not offer details of the incident because he had not seen a report or talked to the investigating officers.
Both drivers said they were not injured in the incident.
Top photo courtesy of Corona del Mar Today reader Dan.
Library Hosts Corona del Mar Artist’s Photography Exhibit
Newport Beach Central Library’s newest art exhibit is “Shoreline Vision” by Marian Jones, an artist and photographer who has lived in Corona del Mar for 26 years.
The exhibit, sponsored by the Newport Beach CIty Arts Commission, shows a series of photographs that focus “on forms and designs found in nature, often revealed in close-up,” according to the city’s website.
Jones had a 22-year career as a writer and journalist in Hollywood and was married to Chuck Jones, the animation director of Looney Tunes fame, when they moved to Corona del Mar in 1981. Chuck Jones died in 2002.
In recent years, Marian Jones pursued her love of photography, working in color and black and white. “Shoreline Vision” focuses on the seashore, which she says is her “greatest fascination.”
“It changes with every tide,” she said in a statement, “and yet is the most ancient and abiding source of life.”
The exhibit will be on display through October at the Central Library at 1000 Avocado Ave. For more information, call (949) 717-3870.
Image courtesy of the Newport Beach Public Library.
Halloween Arrives Early in Corona del Mar’s Roger’s Gardens
Hundreds of Halloween aficionados waited in line for an invitation-only chance to shop the grand opening of the 2010 Roger’s Gardens Halloween shop on Wednesday.
“It’s all fun and games, until someone loses an eye — then it’s hilarious,” screeched “Mischievous Mort,” the ventriloquist’s dummy host of this year’s “Funn & Gaems” Halloween shop who greeted all the customers.
Every year Roger’s Halloween shop has a theme, and this year, Mort is the star after he took over and twisted his bosses’ factory to reflect his own peculiar ideas. Mort is seen blowing things up, jamming an assembly line — and of course, Mort dolls are on sale.
“We wanted to be more whimsical this year and less scary,” said Eric Cortina, Roger’s Gardens’ creative director who develops the themes each year. Read about last year’s mad scientist’s basement themed shop here.
Shoppers quickly grabbed items including “screaming mirrors” that moan when you picked them up, revealing a skeleton’s face, fake spiders and rats, robots, candies, upscale black lace table linens and skeleton and spider themed vases, decanters and cake plates.
Wills Johnson, 13, of Newport Beach, immediately fell upon a silver chair shaped like a hand.
“I love the chair and need it for my room,” he told his mother, Lisa Johnson. “There’s like 100 things here I want, but I want this chair most of all.”
His mother asked the price — $250 — and raised her eyebrows. Then she admitted that she, too, saw a ton of things she wanted.
Donna Buckley of Fullerton had grabbed four black resin witches’ boots.
“I shop, and then I get inspired,” she said. “At first I thought I’d fill the boots with black roses. But now, I’m going to make an invisible lady with them, using white gauze hanging down over them. I’ll hang it in my picture window.”
Kathy McSorley of Santa Ana clung to a wall hanging of a crescent mood with a sparkling black cat inside.
“Would you spend $80 on this?” she asked, unsure whether to take the plunge.
“I found it over there, and already three people have asked if I’m buying it because they wanted it,” she said. She shook her head, then wandered back through the crowd.
“Things were selling out,” said Rochelle Cunard of Downey, showing off a black twig basket that looked like an evil’s bird’s nest. “These were totally gone. They went really fast.”
The public opening of Funn & Gaems Toy Factory is 9 a.m. Friday. Roger’s Gardens is located at 2301 San Joaquin Hills Road. Call (949) 640-5800 for more information.
Worker Hits Hydrant Near San Miguel; Traffic Snarled
Newport Beach officials said a contractor working on the San Miguel Drive widening project hit a fire hydrant this afternoon, causing traffic backups in the area that lasted for hours.
City officials used the Newport Beach Facebook account to alert the public.
The road widening project began last week; read more here.
Parent Volunteers Sent Scrambling For TB Tests
Parents stopping by Harbor View Elementary School this week, turning in registration forms before the Sept. 7 start of classes, received memos reminding them of district policies regarding parent volunteers.
“We have been out of compliance,” the memo said, adding a frowning emoticon.
This year, school officials said, the rules will be strictly enforced, including the requirement that volunteers show proof that they passed a tuberculosis test if they plan to work in the classroom or as field trip chaperones.
Officials with the Newport-Mesa Unified School District are not making a special effort this year, said spokeswoman Laura Boss, but rather every year try to encourage schools to make sure their volunteers are following the rules outlined in a September 2008 letter.
That letter states, in part, “The Tuberculosis skin testing for all school classroom volunteers. All volunteers in schools shall be required to have on file with the school, a certificate showing that within the last four years such person has been examined and has been found to be free of communicable tuberculosis.”
A volunteer is anyone who works in a classroom once a month or more. Test results will be kept in confidential files in school offices, the letter states.
The TB skin test involves a jab in the forearm that medical staff will re-check for symptoms after 48 to 72 hours — which means if parents plan to volunteer next week on school campuses, they need to get to a doctor’s office or clinic soon.
Harbor View Principal Charlene Metoyer said she’s been working with teachers and staff to ensure that parents without proper badges are sent to the office this school year, and if they have not complied with the volunteer requirements, they will not be permitted to stay.
“We want to keep our kids safe,” she said.
Some volunteers who work with children unsupervised, or who will go on overnight field trips, will be more intensely screened, including having a fingerprint check and screening by the Department of Justice. To read the district’s volunteer screening policies, click here. You can also find a link there to a volunteer registration form, which needs to be returned to the school office at each school where you plan to volunteer.
Board Agrees to Consider Larger CDMHS Theater
Plans to build a small “thrust theater” that caused a stir earlier this summer among some Corona del Mar High School parents have been replaced with plans to build a bigger Proscenium stage — along with a hefty price increase, according to the Newport-Mesa Unified School District officials and other sources.
Originally, CDMHS’s proposed new theater would be a so-called thrust theater, which is a theater-in-the-round-type stage geared toward small musical ensembles. That theater would cost about $10 to $13 million of funds from Measure F, a 2005 bond measure that already paid for the Newport Harbor Loats Theater.
But many parents who have students involved in arts programs at the school complained that CDMHS should get a more traditional, larger Proscenium theater, like the Loats Theater. District officials said that the plans would build a variety of theaters that all schools could use, like CDM used Loats for its spring performance of “The Wiz.” Parents were rallying in June and planning to attend a meeting to voice concerns, but that meeting was postponed indefinitely and the matter ended up in the board’s hands. (Read our earlier story here.)
At last week’s Board of Education meeting, board members considered and approved a Proscenium-style theater for CDMHS, noting the cost increase could be an extra $1 million.
“The change from ‘thrust’ theaters to the more traditional proscenium stages does require some additional square footage, and will entail some additional cost,” according to the online agenda. “In today’s dollars, the change reflects an increased price tag of about $1 million for each project. Of course, costs at the time of actual construction will determine the final cost of each project.”
District spokeswoman Laura Boss said the cost increases are “speculations based on the market at this point in time.”
“This is what we had wanted at the school and I am very happy that the board was willing to look at the design.
said the school’s theater director, Ronald Martin, in an email this week. He said he had not seen the revised plans.
The board’s agenda offered background into the theater projects. “Measure F, as approved by the voters in 2005, called for two sizes of theaters to be built under the program. Two larger theaters of approximately 26,000 square feet were to be built at Newport Harbor High School and Estancia High School. Two smaller theaters of approximately 24,000 square feet were to be constructed at Corona del Mar High School and Costa Mesa High School. As adopted, the ‘Ed Specs’ for the theaters to be built under Measure F adopted a macro view of offering different performing arts facilities throughout the district, calling for the larger theaters to be traditional proscenium arch facilities a minimum of 500 seats and the smaller theaters to be designed as ‘thrust’ stages of a minimum of 350 seats. It was reasoned that a variety of performing arts facilities available throughout the community would create greater opportunity for all students.”
Besides a new theater, Measure F funds also are being used for a Corona del Mar Middle School enclave project; read more about that here and here.
Pen on Fire’s September Salon to Feature Two Authors
The next Pen on Fire speakers salon, scheduled for Sept. 14, will feature two Southern California writers, said organizer and author Barbara DeMarco-Barrett.
Dennis Palumbo is a therapist and a screenwriter who worked on television shows including “Welcome Back, Kotter” and films including “My Favorite Year” with Peter O’Toole. His book “Writing from the Inside Out” frequently is used in writing classes, including DeMarco-Barrett’s, she said.
“He’s branched out into fiction, and his latest is called ‘Mirror Image,’” she said. “Like his protagonist, Dennis is a therapist in L.A. who works with people dealing with creative issues, so I’m sure our conversation on the 14th will delve into our own creative issues and how to deal with them.”
Novelist and screenwriter Daniel Pyne also will attend the salon. Pyne’s first novel “Twentynine Palms” began as a short story years ago, DeMarco-Barrett said. His film credits include “Pacific Heights,” “Doc Hollywood” and the re-adaptation of Richard Condon’s “The Manchurian Candidate” in 2004.
The event will take place at SCAPE Gallery at 2859 East Coast Highway in Corona del Mar.
Space is limited, and events usually sell out, so buy your tickets now; click here for more information. Tickets cost $20 and include refreshments. Mystery Ink bookshop will be on hand to sell books.
The October Salon will feature Maile Meloy and Mona Simpson, and the year’s last event in November will feature Andrew Winer and Susan Straight.
From the Police Log: Vandalism, DUI, Stolen Property
A vandal caused $100 in damage at Ocean Boulevard and Heliotrope Avenue last week, police records state.
The damage was reported Saturday and occurred sometime between 10 p.m. Thursday and 10 a.m. Saturday. Details were not immediately available.
Police on Friday also took a report of counterfeit checks at 21171 Newport Coast Drive. The counterfeit incident occurred on June 15, records state. The loss was not stated on the report.
A Yorba Linda man, 28, was arrested at 12:11 a.m. Sunday in the 200 block of Newport Center Drive on suspicion of disorderly conduct; his bail was set at $500. Also on Sunday, a 37-year-old Costa Mesa man was arrested on suspicion of receiving stolen property in the 2100 block of Bayside Drive; his bail was set at $20,000.
A 21-year-old Newport Beach man was arrested on suspicion of petty theft in the 100 block of Newport Center Drive at 7:51 p.m. Saturday. A Long Beach man, 19, was arrested at 11:12 p.m. Friday at Ocean Boulevard and Jasmine Avenue on suspicion of possession of Xanax; bail was set at $500.
At 1:20 am. Friday, a 22-year-old Long Beach man was arrested at Larkspur Avenue and Ocean Boulevard for riving with a suspended license. Bail was set at $30,000; the man, who had warrant as well. Police arrested a 42-year-old Huntington Beach woman at 12:11 a.m. Friday at Bayside Drive and El Paseo on suspicion of DUI; her bail was set at $2,500. And a 51-year-old Brea man was arrested at 9:41 p.m. Friday in the 1000 block of Bayside Drive on suspicion of riding a bike under the influence of drugs or alcohol; his bail was set at $500.
