Appeal hearing for Newport office project is postponed as compromise talks are underway

An appeal of city approval for an office building and parking garage project in Newport Beach may be off as the developer and neighborhood opponents try to work out a resolution.

The City Council was set to consider an appeal Tuesday night of the Planning Commission’s October approval of the project, which features a roughly 2,750-square-foot, two-story office building with suites for one or two tenants, plus a 41-space, roofless two-level parking garage. The development would replace a larger, aging office building and small surface lot at 215 Riverside Ave., about a block off West Coast Highway at Avon Street.

The council would have heard the appeal via a publicly livestreamed video conference because of social distancing guidelines during the coronavirus pandemic.

But developer Gary Jabara and the Newport Heights neighbors who filed the appeal seem close to a compromise, according to City Attorney Aaron Harp.

Harp did not detail the possible resolution but suggested the council give the sides two more weeks to continue their negotiations. The parties will reconnect with the council April 28.

Attorneys for both sides, who appeared before the council via video chat, agreed to the extension.

Some neighbors were critical of the office and garage well before their approval, citing wide-ranging concerns about traffic, noise and light that they said would threaten their quality of life. A group that banded together to lodge a formal appeal to the City Council alleged improper public notification and incomplete consideration of environmental impacts.

Some accused Jabara of “piecemealing,” or separating the office and garage from a possible new restaurant across Avon at 2902 W. Coast Hwy. Opponents said consideration of the office and garage project should be in tandem with the restaurant.

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