Park’s future nearer to present

Alicia Robinson

A new park is in the city’s future, though it’s not certain how soon

that future will arrive.

City officials are close to drafting a lease with the state for 15

acres at the intersection of Coast Highway and Superior Avenue.

Caltrans owns the property, but plans are underway to transfer it to

the state parks department, which will lease it to Newport Beach.

The city has wanted for some time to turn the vacant land into

Sunset Ridge Park, but officials first had to get state legislation

passed to transfer the land and reimburse Caltrans for $1.35 million,

which is about what the transportation agency originally paid for the

parcel, Newport Beach City Councilman Steve Rosansky said. Otherwise,

the city would have had to buy the land from Caltrans at its

appraised value, which in 2000 was close to $4.2 million.

The city allocated half the money for the property last year, but

the project hadn’t really moved forward since then, Rosansky said.

“I took it on as my project, mostly because it’s in my district,

and we have a lack of [active] parks in West Newport,” he said.

He’d like to see it become a park with soccer and baseball fields

and basketball courts, though the council hasn’t voted on what to

include at the park or how much to spend developing it.

The next step is to sign a lease, allowing the city to operate the

park, although the state would still own the land, and to budget the

rest of the reimbursement funds for Caltrans. The lease is near

completion, Newport Beach Assistant City Manager Dave Kiff said.

“We want to be able to submit what we think is the lease in its

final form to the state this week,” he said.

The city is still working out a few bugs on the park project,

Rosansky said. For one, Caltrans says the legislation only referred

to a parcel on the west side of Superior Avenue, while the city says

it also included a Caltrans plot on the eastern side of the road.

Access to the park, when it is developed, may have to come through

the adjacent Banning Ranch property because Superior Avenue is too

steep for a driveway, and the state limits the number of driveways

allowed on Coast Highway, Rosansky said.

The City Council heard an update on the park at its meeting

Tuesday. Rosansky said the city will gather public input on how the

park should be used, possibly beginning in January.