CORONA DEL MAR TODAY

Planning Commission to Consider Revised Plans for New Ocean Blvd. Home

The Newport Beach Planning Commission tonight will consider plans for a new home to be built at 3225 Ocean Boulevard — plans that drastically reduce the size of a home that the Coastal Commission rejected in early 2011.

The new home would be 3,880 square feet on three levels, according to a staff report included in the meeting’s online agenda. Plans also call for a 914-square-foot detached three-car garage, an exercise room and a 610-square-foot roof deck. The home also will include a patio, raised planters, a barbecue, as well as a new staircase and a funicular hillside lift that will seat two to four people and serve as an alternative to the staircase, said architect Brion Jeannette.

The Planning Commission will decide whether the city should grant a variance to allow the lower level of the house to encroach ten feet into the 10-foot front yard setback. The original plans, which called for a 4,715-square-foot home on four stories with an elevator and tunnel to a three-car garage, had received “approval in concept” from the city in December 2009.

The California Coastal Commission in January 2011 voted no on the project, partly because it would have required too much bluff excavation; read our story here.

The Planning Commission meeting begins at 6:30 p.m. in Council Chambers at City Hall at 3300 Newport Blvd. The public may attend and make comments.

The regular meeting will follow a Study Session meeting that will begin at 5 to discuss a proposed municipal code amendment regarding the city’s Wireless Telecommunications Facilities Ordinance.

“The amendment is intended to balance the needs of the community and the increasing demand for wireless networks, while mitigating the impact of Telecom Facilities in the community through effective design and screening techniques,” according to the meeting’s agenda. “The proposed amendment is also intended to reflect current federal and state law, and legal precedent.”