CdM Today: Residents press council on plan to remove trees

Corona del Mar residents asked the City Council at its meeting Tuesday why as many as three dozen Poppy Avenue eucalyptus trees have to be removed by the end of the month.

“Those eucalyptus give Poppy its unique character and a microclimate to the village,” Jim Moore said. “They’ve been there longer than any of us, and I think have earned the right to be treated with more dignity and consideration than the city manager seems to have afforded them.”

Last week, Newport Beach City Manager Dave Kiff announced at a parks department meeting that the 80-year-old trees need to be removed because of the risk that they will fall.

The danger was so immediate, he said, that he was using his authority as city manager to bypass the commission and City Council.

The topic was not on the council’s agenda Tuesday, but five people commented on the matter.

Kiff explained that an arborist first suggested removing 11 of the trees last September.

“I said, ‘I don’t want to take them down. They can make it,’” Kiff said. “I put it off for a little bit.”

In July, however, a second arborist inspected the trees and said 34 to 36 of them needed to come down before they fall and cause injury.

“Once we have that notification, that’s not something that allows me to sleep at night,” Kiff said. “I try to look, ‘Would I encourage a family member to park on that street?’ and I wouldn’t.

“I feel remiss that I’ve even waited this long to ask for the trees to be removed. This isn’t something I can sit on any longer. I’m hopeful that we can make it to the removal time without anything falling or anything awful happening.”

He said the city’s contractor is trying to “marshal forces” to do the job.

City staff will work with residents on replanting, with an eye toward creating a new canopy.

“This is something that hasn’t been done lightly,” Councilman Tony Petros said. “I was shocked too when I got news that this was going to happen. Let’s be very creative in the ways we could possibly get the canopies back. You’re right — it is iconic, and we should do everything we can to get it back.”

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Sports complex project could move ahead

Plans for a controversial new sports complex at Corona del Mar High School have been quietly moving ahead.

But issues with the design mean the project won’t break ground for at least a year, a school board trustee told members of the PTA at the group’s first meeting of the new school year last week.

Plans were submitted to the California Department of General Services’ Division of the State Architect, but officials there said restrooms needed to be added closer to the field, Newport-Mesa Unified School District board Trustee Karen Kelsey told about 75 people at the meeting in the school’s gym.

“So with this delay, and the lengthy approval process, the project will probably not break ground for a year,” she said.

The restrooms probably would be incorporated into a building with concessions, requiring more money and the approval of the school board, she said.

In December, the board approved the project, which will add a field and 1,000 seats. Later, the board approved funding for lights, bringing the total budget for the project to $8.3 million.

Last winter, the CdM Foundation, which raises money for Corona del Mar schools, sent a one-page letter to the board, proposing that the new complex have 1,385 seats, a press box, a field building for concessions, team rooms, storage, restrooms, lighting, a sound system and possibly an elevator. Those items would cost about $6.75 million.

The foundation’s co-chairwoman, Jules Marine, said fundraising has not begun yet for those additional features.

Many Eastbluff residents have protested the plans, saying the neighborhood already suffers from noise, trash and traffic problems without a new sports complex threatening to bring in more people and glaring light.

Kelsey said school and district officials have had discussions with residents.

“The heads of two homeowners associations have become very involved in the process,” she said in an email. “They don’t necessarily like all the elements of the project, but we’re keeping them informed along the way. Eventually they’ll want some type of curfew for lights and usage, but we’ll work through that.”

Corona del Mar Today appears Sundays in the Daily Pilot. Read daily updates at coronadelmartoday.com.