Two Ranch plans shown

Two competing visions of Banning Ranch emerged at a meeting of area residents, environmentalists and developers Thursday night at Newport Beach City Hall.

Land developers unveiled revised plans to build homes, a 75-room hotel and shopping areas in Banning Ranch that would leave as much as 70% of the land preserved as open space, but environmentalists want to see all of the roughly 400-acre area preserved in its natural state.

Environmentalists claim the area is a pristine chunk of undeveloped coastal land that is home to a vast array of plants and animals. A Sierra Club-sponsored group wants to come up with ways to raise the millions it would take to purchase the land to keep it natural and unpaved. Meanwhile, developers claim large parts of Banning Ranch are dotted with oil wells and crumbling concrete from decades of oil excavation. They claim the best option would be to build housing and retail space on some of the land while preserving only parts of the area.

Representatives of Newport Banning Ranch LLC, a consortium of the three owners of the land, presented plans for housing, retail space and a coastal inn that would include a network of walking trails and small parks that would be open to the community. Tentative plans for development in the area also could include a footbridge that would span West Coast Highway and connect beachgoers to the trails in Banning Ranch.

Walking trails inside a housing development aren’t as valuable to the public as real natural space, environmentalists said.

Kevin Nelson, a member of the Sierra Club-sponsored Banning Ranch Park and Preserve Task Force, screened photographs of Banning Ranch at the meeting that showed expansive views from the tops of bluffs and mesas covered with wild flowers and grasses.

“Where you get into the problem of housing in a place like this is that if that view was completely hemmed in by housing — it’s not the same thing,” Nelson said. “It’s going to be canned, bottled — a watered down piece of nature.”

The land is home to several endangered or protected species of animals and could even be a hidden treasure trove of Native American artifacts, preservation task force members said.

But Nelson’s photographs “don’t show the entire picture,” said Mike Mohler, a representative of Newport Banning Ranch LLC.

Most of the land environmentalists want to preserve in Banning Ranch would also be preserved if the development plans went ahead, but at a much cheaper cost to the public, Mohler said. Extensive work needs to be done to clean up some 500 oil wells that have been drilled on the land over the course of roughly 60 years, Mohler said. The millions of dollars it will take to restore the land would be the responsibility of the land developers if their plans move forward. If the city and private benefactors are able to raise enough money to buy the land and preserve it, the hefty cleanup costs would fall to them alone, he said.

The roughly 175 acres of land that would be developed is already ugly and scarred from years of oil excavation, Mohler said.

“From the standpoint of open space, developing 30% of the land and preserving 70% is what is going to create a win-win for all parties,” he said.

Newport Banning Ranch LLC also presented as part of its plans setting back buildings from the edge of a bluff on the land. Numerous area residents voiced concern homes on the bluff would block their views. The oil wells in the area also would be consolidated into two areas to create more uninterrupted open space.

Environmentalists at the meeting said they would continue to look for ways to buy the land, which some have estimated to be worth as much as $225 million.

“Open space is precious and we’re losing it every day in Orange County and coastal open space is very precious,” said Terry Welsh, chairman of the Banning Ranch Park and Preserve Task Force.

The Newport Beach City Council formed a committee earlier this year to appraise the more than 400-acre piece of land, but appraisal efforts are still in the planning stages, said Councilman Steve Rosansky, a member of the committee. Meanwhile, Newport Banning Ranch has gone ahead with its plans for development for the area. The group could submit detailed plans to the city for up to 1,375 homes, a 75-room upscale hotel and 75,000 square feet of retail space within a month, Mohler said. But seeing development plans to completion could take as long as four to six years, he said at the meeting.

Getting an accurate assessment of how much Banning Ranch is worth would be the first step in buying the land for the city. Newport Beach hopes to secure funding from sources including private donations and bonds to preserve the area as parks and open space, but developers continue with their plans to build in the area. About 53 acres of Banning Ranch lies within Newport’s city limits. Although the rest of the land is in the county’s jurisdiction, Newport Beach maintains a sphere of influence over the area, which stretches along the Santa Ana River and West Coast Highway.

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