In search of a community center

June Casagrande

A sprawling community center that includes a full-size gymnasium, a

stage for student performances, a branch library and other amenities

could be coming to a section of Newport Ridge Park.

Resident leaders this weekend will begin a far-reaching campaign

to get feedback on tentative designs for a Newport Coast Community

Center. For the next two weekends, manned informational exhibits will

be set up in front of the Newport Coast Pavilions market in

anticipation of a Sept. 29 town hall meeting at Newport Coast

Elementary School.

Newport Beach Advisory Committee members have held a number of

meetings on the proposed community center leading up to the city of

Newport Beach hiring an architect to draw up a concept, which can be

viewed at the city’s Web site. But whether they will pursue the

center as planned or head back to the drawing board depends on what

residents say about the proposal.

For that reason, planners are hoping to get as much resident input

as possible.

“It’s been a work in progress,” said Jim McGee, a member of the

subcommittee that has been guiding the tentative plans. “There have

been many iterations of the drawings, and there could be many more

depending on what the community wants.”

Plans call for a series of three Mediterranean-style building at

the northeast corner of the Newport Ridge Park, adjacent to Newport

Coast Drive -- a site many think of as the logical center of Newport

Coast. The main building would house a full-size multipurpose

gymnasium with a stage at one end. Several community meeting rooms

would also be housed in that building. A small branch library would

emphasize children’s collections and programs and would be part of

the Newport Beach Public Library system. A third building would house

a teen center and more meeting rooms.

The cost of project is not yet known. The community has set aside

for the center $7 million set aside that came from the city as part

of a pre-annexation agreement. If the plans prove popular,

construction could begin as soon as 18 months from now.

McGee said that the center could help the Newport Coast

neighborhood feel and function more like a true community.

“We all live behind separate gates, and we’re trying to not

develop into a series of insular, gated communities,” he said. “We

want to encourage and foster this idea of creating a real

neighborhood.”