CORONA DEL MAR TODAY

Questions About The Proposed Civic Center Project?

Groundbreaking for the new Newport Beach Civic Center and park could begin along Avocado Avenue as early as January– any questions?

The Civic Center Design Committee will hold a meeting at 6:30 tonight in the Newport Beach City Council Chambers, with architects and city staff members updating the committee on plan revisions. Members of the community are welcome to attend and ask questions.

The Civic Center is scheduled to be built near the Central Library and is to include an office building, a 450-space parking structure and a 14-acre park. Later iterations of the plans included a 15,000-foot-square addition to the library, a 4,900-square-foot emergency operations center and a 275-person community room for lectures and neighborhood meetings.

Several Corona del Mar residents who live across the street from the site told Corona del Mar Today that they have concerns about the project’s size and impact on the village.

“Corona Del Mar will not be the quaint little beach town but will be converted to a downtown Newport Beach,” said one neighbor. “Traffic will be a nightmare. The open view of the ocean will be gone. Office buildings will occupy all natural landscape which once separated the Fashion Mall from the residential.”

The homeowner worried about his home’s property value declining. “It’s certainly a losing proposition for the residential,” he said.

For more information about the community meeting or the Civic Center project, contact Steve Badum, public works director, (949) 644-3311.