Newport mixed-use village draws mixed reaction at neighboring mobile-home park

When Maureen Buffington stood to speak to her neighbors Tuesday night at a meeting about a mixed-use development proposed to be built adjacent to their homes, she figured she would be addressing a fairly hostile crowd.

Buffington understands that some of her neighbors in the Bayside Village Mobile Home Park in Newport Beach don’t agree with the stance she’s taken against the Back Bay Landing project, a waterfront village with commercial, residential and marine-related uses planned for a 7-acre parcel next to Upper Newport Bay.

About 50 people attended the sometimes-tense community meeting in the mobile-home park’s clubhouse. While some shared Buffington’s concerns about the potential for increased noise, traffic and parking problems, others said the development would provide residents with new dining and shopping options within walking distance of their homes.

“It’s only going to enhance the community,” said 16-year resident Lynn Plumlee. “In the long run, I think it’s going to improve our property values.”

Some residents have taken issue with the 65-foot-tall public viewing tower proposed as part of the project, citing privacy concerns.

The project, which would be bordered by the mobile-home park to the east, has won preliminary approvals from the city, according to city documents.

However, for landowner Bayside Village Marina LLC to build 49 condominiums as part of the development, the California Coastal Commission must approve a zoning change for the land. The commission, which has final say over development along the California coast, is expected to decide in October whether to allow the change from marine recreation to mixed use. The change would amend Newport’s housing plan.

Buffington and some of her neighbors are especially concerned that the zoning change could jeopardize the mobile-home park’s lease, which is up for renewal in 2026.

“It’s the amendment to the city plan about housing that has us concerned,” Buffington said. “We perceive that there’s going to be a bigger problem.”

Michael Gelfand, president of Terra Vista Management, which operates the mobile-home site and adjacent properties, said there are no plans to remove the mobile homes.

“We’ve been in the mobile-home business for 40 years. That’s what we do,” he said. “Mobile homes provide an opportunity for people who want to live near the water at a lesser cost. There’s a sense of community with them that doesn’t exist in other places.”

Jean Watt, a former city councilwoman and co-founder of Stop Polluting Our Newport, a group dedicated to preserving the city’s residential character, said mobile homes are among the last affordable housing options for people in Newport Beach and should be preserved.

She called Bayside Village Mobile Home Park a “real treasure in our community.”