Stag Bar’s comeback, Woody’s dancing, coyotes’ prowling: Newport’s top news in 2015
Longtime issues continued to make news in Newport Beach this year, but so did a host of new controversies and attractions, and even the return of some familiar names.
Here are the Daily Pilot’s top news and business stories from Newport Beach in 2015, listed in reverse chronological order. Crime and education stories will be covered in separate articles.
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Ruby’s Diner namesake dies at 93
Ruby Cavanaugh, the inspiration and namesake for Newport Beach-founded Ruby’s Diner, died Dec. 27 at age 93.
The restaurant chain, now based in Irvine, was started by Cavanaugh’s son, Doug Cavanaugh Jr., who opened the first Ruby’s Diner on Dec. 7, 1982, in a remodeled building at the end of the Balboa Pier, which he had seen while jogging in Newport Beach.
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Lido Theater’s fate uncertain
In December, the landmark Lido Theater grabbed attention when its operator, Lido Live, announced its lease on the property was being terminated and it would be out by the end of the year.
Property owner Fritz Duda Co. has not yet revealed its plans for the site and its 1930s single-screen movie house.
Lido Live took over the theater at 3459 Via Lido in June 2014 after Regency Theatres lost its lease on the property.
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Marina Park opens
The city unveiled Marina Park during a ceremony in early December. The city’s newest public park includes a community and sailing center, basketball half-courts, a 23-slip marina, a cafe and a nautical-themed playground.
The park, which cost about $35 million, is on 10.5 acres along West Balboa Boulevard.
The Girl Scouts are expected to break ground on a new center adjacent to the park in early 2016.
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Banning Ranch plan scaled back
The developer looking to build homes, retail space and a boutique hotel on part of the 401-acre expanse known as Banning Ranch unveiled scaled-down plans for the project in December.
During a November hearing, the California Coastal Commission had sent Newport Banning Ranch LLC back to the drawing board to reduce the project’s scope and footprint.
Newport Banning Ranch is now proposing 895 homes, a 75- room hotel, a hostel and 45,100 square feet of retail on about 62 acres of Banning Ranch. The developer originally proposed 1,375 homes, 75,000 square feet of retail space, a hostel and several parks on about 95 acres.
Preservationists, including the nonprofit Banning Ranch Conservancy, have butted heads with the developer and the city over the land for three years. A lawsuit by the conservancy has made its way through Orange County Superior Court and California’s 4th District Court of Appeal and will next be heard by the California Supreme Court.
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Stag Bar reopens
In late November, Newport Beach restaurant and bar owner Mario Marovic reopened the Stag Bar in McFadden Square on the Balboa Peninsula.
The bar, which dates to the early 1900s, closed in 2006 and was reopened as The District Lounge. But its comeback as the Stag Bar, complete with its old-school taxidermy decor and gun rack over the bar, caused excitement among local residents.
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City tries to manage coyotes
Newport Beach launched a coyote management plan in November after residents began demanding that the city come up with solutions to what they believe is a growing coyote problem, with the wild animals attacking and killing pets and showing up more frequently in people’s yards.
The city will classify residents’ coyote reports using a four-tiered color-coded system. The program focuses mostly on educating the public on how to deter coyotes from entering populated areas. But if a human is attacked or there is a rash of attacks on pets, city staff may recommend that a coyote be killed.
In July, about 100 people attended a vigil for a Chiweenie (Chihuahua-dachshund mix) named Beanie, who was killed in a coyote attack. Beanie’s death, along with attacks on dozens of other pets, sparked outrage in Corona del Mar, where coyote issues have been prevalent.
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Civic Center audit
In a 4 to 3 vote in November, the City Council decided to increase the budget for an audit of the city’s Civic Center project to $300,000 from $100,000.
Mayor Diane Dixon, along with Mayor Pro Tem Kevin Muldoon and council members Scott Peotter and Marshall “Duffy” Duffield, supported a thorough review of the $140 million project, which grew in size and scope between 2008 and its opening in May 2013.
The four council members were among the project’s harshest critics before they were elected last year. After they took their seats in January, city staff posted change orders and other construction-related documents on the city website. Still, Dixon and Muldoon called for a deeper review of the project by an outside firm.
The audit request followed a city inquiry into whether former Assistant City Manager Steve Badum failed to report gifts from companies doing business with the city, including Civic Center contractor C.W. Driver. However, the Orange County district attorney’s office announced in August that it had found no evidence of criminal wrongdoing by Badum.
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Lido House Hotel approved
The Lido House Hotel, a 130-room boutique inn that’s slated to replace the former Newport Beach City Hall at the entrance to the Balboa Peninsula, won California Coastal Commission approval in October.
Developers expect to break ground in early 2016 on the four-story project, which includes the hotel, meeting and retail space, a spa, restaurants, a pool and recreation area and a rooftop bar.
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Woody’s customers can dance
A roughly two-year legal dispute between Woody’s Wharf and the city of Newport Beach came to an end in October.
In a close vote, city leaders decided to approve the Balboa Peninsula restaurant and bar’s request to amend its conditional use permit to allow dancing indoors on Thursday nights and up to 12 additional nights per year. Also, closing time for the outdoor dining area was extended from 11 p.m. to 2 a.m. on those nights.
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Hydrox cookies return
In September, a Newport Beach company announced the revival of Hydrox, the classic chocolate cookie sandwich that dueled for decades with Oreo.
Leaf Brands acquired the trademark in 2014 for Hydrox cookies, which hadn’t been sold in stores since 1999.
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Peotter avoids censure
First-year City Councilman Scott Peotter made headlines during the summer after he made comments critical of the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling that the Constitution guarantees a right to same-sex marriage nationwide.
Councilman Keith Curry proposed censuring his colleague over the use of a photo of the city seal on his email blast, which angered gay-rights leaders and many Newport Beach residents. However, in August, the council decided not to formally reprimand Peotter.
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Fire rings plan OKd
The California Coastal Commission in June gave the city permission to reconfigure 64 fire rings along the beach, allowing half of them to burn wood and the rest to burn charcoal.
The decision ended about two years of debate among Newport Beach residents, city leaders and other government agencies over the placement, type and number of fire rings in the city. Newly elected Councilman Scott Peotter spearheaded the issue.
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Water-propelled jetpacks approved
After about a year of study and discussion, the City Council decided in May to allow one jetpack business at a time to operate in Newport Harbor.
In June 2014, the council agreed to a six-month moratorium on permits for businesses operating water-propelled jetpacks while the Harbor Commission studied concerns about safety, noise and other issues.
Though the commission eventually recommended a ban, the council decided to regulate the activity and restrict it to the turning basin between Lido Marina Village and Coast Highway.
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St. James church closes
Bishop J. Jon Bruno of the Episcopal Diocese of Los Angeles announced in May that the 70-year-old St. James the Great Episcopal Church at 3209 Via Lido was being sold along with two nearby parking lots for about $15 million to Legacy Partners Residential, which plans to build 22 high-end townhomes there.
Less than a month later, parishioners held their last service in the church, and days after that, Bruno had the locks changed and wouldn’t allow the congregation back in, churchgoers said.
The sale of the church has not closed as the property remains tangled in a legal battle between Bruno and Griffith Co., which owned the property before it was transferred to the Episcopal Diocese in 1945.
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Dock fees cut
In February, the City Council voted to reduce residential dock fees in Newport Beach by about 2.5 cents per square foot.
In 2012, the council approved an ordinance that increased dock fees for residential piers, along with fuel docks and commercial marinas on state-owned, city-administered tidelands. That meant pier owners would, by 2017, be paying 52.5 cents per square foot of usable dock space instead of the flat $100 a year they were paying.
The move angered residents — many from a group called Stop the Dock Tax — who said the increase was an unnecessary money grab.
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El Niño brings unusual visitors
Warm ocean waters associated with El Niño brought several interesting marine creatures onto land this year.
In January, thousands of pelagic red crabs — which are common in warm water along the lower west coast of Baja California — washed ashore on Balboa Island.
By the spring, many malnourished sea lion pups also had washed ashore as a result of the warmer water and dwindling food sources, scientists said at the time. One sea lion wandered into a Balboa Peninsula bar in May. It was taken to the Pacific Marine Mammal Center in Laguna Beach.
