Developer of 150 Newport Center project withdraws proposal
A plan to develop a condominium and townhome project in Newport Center has been scrapped.
The Newport Beach City Council was originally scheduled Tuesday to make a final decision on 150 Newport Center — a 35-unit residential project that would replace the Beacon Bay Auto Wash and an adjacent gas station — along Newport Center Drive near Anacapa Drive.
However, developer Newport Center Anacapa Associates LLC informed city staff that day that they were withdrawing their project, said Community Development Director Kim Brandt.
“There is no longer an application on the property, and if a future development proposal were to come forward, there would have to be a new application submitted to the city and go through the appropriate entitlement process,” she said.
Mike Lutton, a principal with Anacapa Associates, said in a statement sent to the Daily Pilot on Wednesday morning that his firm had a good project — one that was approved by adjacent businesses, reduced traffic by 80%, reduced water use by 2,000 gallons a day and didn’t block any other residents’ ocean views — yet it was plagued by an “an obvious political agenda.”
“We will be back,” he said, “and ask citizens this time to understand the facts.”
Dozens of residents who attended Tuesday’s council meeting cheered and applauded upon hearing the news.
Less than a month ago, the Planning Commission recommended that the council deny 150 Newport Center. Commissioners cited concerns about the landscape plan and called the project too bulky for the 1.26-acre site. However, they made a point of applauding the building’s architectural style and noted their desire to see more residences built in Newport Center.
For the development to move forward, the council would have needed to vote to change the land-use designation for the site from regional commercial office to multi-unit residential.
At the Planning Commission’s behest, 150 Newport Center had gone through a series of changes over several months.
The developer originally proposed a seven-story, 49-unit building reaching 69 feet tall. However, after its initial meeting with the Planning Commission in July, the company reduced the plan to six stories, with 45 units reaching 65 feet.
Then, after a two-hour public discussion at the commission’s Aug. 18 meeting, where commissioners were unable to reach a consensus about the project’s density and height, the developer reduced the proposed height of the building to 50 feet in five stories. Anacapa Associates also cut the number of units to 35.
Still, several commissioners indicated the project was too dense.
Stop Polluting Our Newport, an activist organization, and Line in the Sand, a political action committee, had been circulating a petition for weeks via email and social media urging city leaders to reject the development.
Their petition argued that 150 Newport Center is inappropriate for the location because of its height and bulk, and isn’t suitable because it proposes residential use on a site not zoned for it. That property should remain commercial, they argued.
Twitter: @HannahFryTCN
