<p>Faced with what they consider an unreasonable requirement to build 4,845 new homes in Newport Beach over the next decade, city officials are eyeing part of Banning Ranch’s undeveloped land as a site for possible building.</p><p>The problem for those officials is that conservationists have a contract to buy most of the 410-acre coastal parcel for permanent open space and recreational use. It’s the largest privately-owned, undeveloped coastal property in Southern California, and features a mix of wetlands, arroyos and coastal bluff habitats.</p><p>The proposed park would be “a jewel for all Southern Californians to enjoy,” according to Assemblywoman Cottie Petrie-Norris, a Democrat representing Newport Beach.</p><p>So far, $66 million has been raised toward the $97 million price tag, with the purchase expected to include deed restrictions that would block future housing development.</p><p>But the state’s $16 million in grants toward that purchase, at a time when it’s aggressively pushing every city for more housing, rankles Newport Beach officials.</p><p>”I want to express the city’s frustration with conflicting state priorities regarding affordable housing and the future Newport Banning Ranch,” Newport Beach Mayor Brad Avery wrote last month in a letter to the state Department of Housing and Development.</p><p>”Unfortunately, Banning Ranch has … proven to be the poster child for the contradiction in competing state priorities.”</p><p>City Community Development Director Seimone Jurjis shares that frustration.</p><p>”How can you say there’s a housing crisis when you’re shipping off all of this money to make sure no houses get built on this land?” Jurjis said.</p><p>The city continues to consider the land developable. Jurjis said the updated city Housing Element recently submitted to state includes zoning for 1,475 units on 30 acres of Banning Ranch.</p><p>But he also acknowledged the expected deed restriction barring housing. Additionally, the state Coastal Commission rejected an 895-home proposal for the parcel in 2016, citing environmental concerns. And in 2017, the state Supreme Court ruled the environmental impact report for that proposed development was inadequate, invalidating the city’s 2012 approval of the housing project.</p><p>”We have a contract to purchase the property, which means no housing on the property,” said Paolo Perrone of the Trust for Public Land. The trust negotiated the purchase contract and, along with the Banning Ranch Conservancy, is raising money for the acquisition.</p><h4 class=””>Housing shortage</h4><p>Following up on a campaign pledge, Gov. Gavin Newsom declared a statewide housing crisis upon taking office in 2019 and called for construction of 3.5 million new homes statewide by 2025.</p><p>The Department of Housing and Community Development subsequently issued Regional Housing Needs Assessment (RHNA) calling for 1.34 million new homes by 2029 for all of Southern California except San Diego County, which received its own mandate. And the Southern California Association of Governments broke that down by city, arriving at 4,845 new homes for Newport Beach.</p><p>Avery’s letter to the state called the Southern California target “unprecedented and extreme” and noted the dramatic increase for his city, whose allocation for the previous cycle was just five new homes. He wrote that the city’s space crunch for new housing was exacerbated by coastal flooding issues and existing dedicated open space.</p><p>The city last year appealed the 4,845 new home mandate to the Association of Governments and was turned down.</p><p>”Every city across the state complains about the RNHA numbers,” said state Sen. Dave Min, a Democrat representing Newport Beach. “Yet we know we have a housing and affordable housing dilemma. … Newport Beach never seems to have a problem building multi-million dollar houses.”</p><p>Petrie-Norris championed an $8 million Banning Ranch grant from the state Legislature. Both she and Min support preserving Banning Ranch as open space, although Petrie-Norris sounded a bit more sympathetic to the challenge the housing numbers posed for the city.</p><p>”I understand the frustration with those numbers,” she said. “But the appeal was unsuccessful, so those numbers are what they are.”</p><h4 class=””>Past and future</h4><p>While much of the 410 acres of Banning Ranch became an oil field in in the 1940s, most of the surface land has been untouched by development.</p><p>Of the more than 400 wells once operating on the property, about 60 remain active. Terms of the sales agreement call for the landowner, Newport Banning Ranch LLC, to clean up the abandoned oil operations. Active oil operations are expected to be consolidated on the 17 acres of land not included in the contract with the trust, which covers 384 acres.</p><p>The location, just inland of Pacific Coast Highway and east of the Santa Ana River, has been eyed for development since at least 1997, when a 1,750-home neighborhood was proposed. Plans were scaled back at least twice, with the most recent proposal calling for 895 homes, a resort hotel and retail shops on 70 acres.</p><p>Min said the Coastal Commission’s rejection of the 895-home plan was essentially the nail in the coffin for development of the land. He said environmental issues, not state grants or housing requirements, have put the parcel off limits for building.</p><p></p><aside class=”related right”><h2 class=”widget-title”>Related links</h2><ul><li><a href=”https://www.ocregister.com/2021/05/20/banning-ranch-takes-key-step-toward-becoming-coastal-nature-preserve/”>Banning Ranch takes key step toward becoming coastal nature preserve</a></li><li><a href=”https://www.ocregister.com/2019/11/04/purchase-of-banning-ranch-for-coastal-preserve-buoyed-by-50-million-donation/”>Couple gives $50 million to help fight Banning Ranch development</a></li><li><a href=”https://www.ocregister.com/2018/03/30/1-25-million-settlement-reached-in-newports-banning-ranch-development-dispute/”>$1.25 million settlement reached in Newport’s Banning Ranch development dispute</a></li><li><a href=”https://www.ocregister.com/2021/05/17/hikers-undeterred-by-hoa-gates-on-public-trail-in-laguna-niguel/”>Hikers undeterred by HOA gates on public trail in Laguna Niguel</a></li><li><a href=”https://www.ocregister.com/2021/05/12/states-1230-mile-coastal-trail-70-complete-according-to-new-online-map/”>California’s 1,230-mile coastal trail 70% complete, according to new online map</a></li></ul></aside><p></p><p>Petrie-Norris called it a “once-in-a-lifetime” opportunity to create a natural refuge on par with Newport Beach’s Back Bay and Huntington Beach’s Bolsa Chica Ecological Reserve.</p><p>And Terry Welsh, president of the Banning Ranch Conservancy and a 22-year veteran of the fight to preserve the open space there, is disappointed that city officials haven’t rallied behind the conservation effort.</p><p>”What we’d like to be hearing from the city is, ‘This is great. How can we help?'” he said.</p>
Source: Orange County Register
Be First to Comment