Balboa, Corona del Mar parking plans get mixed reviews from Newport council

Speaking to the Newport Beach City Council during a study session Tuesday, Balboa Peninsula resident Joyce Barnes imagined her gravestone:

Here lies Joyce. She lived in a house over 40 years with no parking place.

Parking problems in the dense areas of Balboa Village and Corona del Mar were being addressed by the council, which decided a plan for the former is ready for a formal vote at an upcoming meeting but that the latter needs more work.

The Balboa Village plan has two parts intended to work in concert. One aims to better use parking in the commercial area, while the other aims to mitigate possible parking overflow in the residential area to the west.

In the commercial area, meter rates would be adjusted to encourage use of lots, parking requirements would be eliminated for most commercial uses and a voluntary employee permit parking program would be put in place. There also could be an off-season parking discount in the village for residents, city staff said.

To keep overflow out of the adjacent area, a residential permit parking plan would be implemented in two phases. It would stretch first between Adams Street and Island Avenue, including all the houses from the bay to the beach, the residences on Bay Island and the moorings. Next it would include homes between Island Avenue and Seventh Street.

Every home would be allowed four permits at $20 each, according to the draft plan. An annual guest pass and an option for a one-day guest pass also could be provided.

But Barnes said the permits are unnecessary.

She had on-street parking. She was a great parallel parker, and she was a happy camper, her headstone also would say.

Some residents contested the price of the permits, the time frame and the boundaries. Two mooring permit holders asked that they be treated like residents and also get the four permits.

Resident Andrew Miceli scolded the council for a “nasty” outlook that he believed the plan presented to visitors.

“I think the city owes that respect to the public,” he said. “We all pay taxes. We all go to other neighborhoods.”

Nancy Gardner encouraged the city to look at the plan’s possible effects on Balboa Island. Councilman Mike Henn agreed that the border was somewhat arbitrary and suggested that mooring permit holders perhaps should get two permits.

Meanwhile, with regard to the Corona del Mar plan, council members echoed Councilman Tony Petros’ claim that solutions posed by consultants at Nelson\Nygaard were too broad.

Though the proposal analyzed four zones between Zahma and Hazel drives where parking is often underutilized, Petros said the analysis needed to be on a “more granular level.”

He noted that the data used was 6 years old and limited to specific times.

“Let’s go down block by block,” he urged.

The plan would extend time limits for on-street parking, restripe parking where possible and aim to facilitate better employee parking. It also included an emphasis on encouraging business owners to make their lots available to the public when not in use by business patrons.

But Councilman Keith Curry cautioned that governments should neither dictate what business owners should do nor expose them to added liability.

“I’m not sure we’re ready for prime time yet with this report,” he said.