Coastal Commission to consider changes to allow Back Bay Landing housing and commercial project

The California Coastal Commission is expected to weigh in next week on requested changes to Newport Beach’s conditional land-use plan that could make way for the proposed Back Bay Landing residential/commercial project along the bayfront on East Coast Highway.

The project aims to replace an RV parking lot at 300 E. Coast Hwy. with a 7-acre pedestrian-oriented waterfront village with 49 condominiums and 60,000 square feet of commercial space. The commercial portion would include restaurants, marine-focused shops and dry stack boat storage adjacent to Upper Newport Bay.

“You go down there now and it’s not a very attractive piece of property — it’s an asphalt parking lot,” Mayor Ed Selich said. “They’re hoping to develop it and improve it with a public walkway, restaurants, boat storage ... that would be a huge public benefit.”

The project, which would be bordered to the east by the Bayside Village Mobile Home Park, has won preliminary approvals from the city, according to city documents.

However, for landowner Bayside Village Marina LLC to build the 49 condos as part of the development, the California Coastal Commission must approve a zoning change from recreational and marine commercial to mixed-use horizontal, which would allow housing on the property. The commission, which has final say over development along the California coast, is scheduled to take on the zoning issue during a meeting Thursday in Monterey.

The project also would need Coastal Commission approval for construction to begin.

Commission staff is recommending that the zoning be changed instead to mixed-use water-related, which would limit the development to mixed-use structures with homes above the ground floor, according to a staff report.

Commission staff also is requesting that the panel require upgrades to bike lanes and a pedestrian trail on Bayside Drive, including a new trail that would connect to the Newport Dunes recreational area, and require the bayfront pedestrian promenade to be continuous to improve public access.

If the commission follows staff recommendations, Back Bay Landing would have to develop a shoreline management plan, which would lay out a framework for adapting to possible sea-level rise, flooding, wave hazards and erosion, according to the report.

The staff also has recommended against a 65-foot-tall coastal viewing tower proposed for the development. The site currently has a 35-foot height limit put in place in the 1970s to help preserve views.

“The proposed 65-foot-tall tower would be inconsistent with the character of the area and result in adverse visual impacts to public views of the bay and the cliffs of Upper Newport Bay,” the staff report states.

Roger Bloom, a spokesman for the project, said the developer is optimistic.

“We’re working through it, but we don’t see anything fatal,” he said.

Seychelle Cannes, who lives at the Bayside Village Mobile Home Park, said she’s pleased with many of the changes suggested by commission staff, including the restriction on residential development and the possible elimination of the viewing tower. However, she said she still harbors concerns about the density and the housing element.

“I’m a lot happier with it,” she said. “I’m about 70% there.”