Newport Beach City Council overrides airport commission again, green-lights apartment complex near JWA

In an effort to meet state housing mandates, the Newport Beach City Council last week decided to override the findings of the Airport Land Use Commission to allow for the development of a 282-unit apartment building.

This is not the first time the City Council has overridden the ALUC in order to advance residential development near John Wayne Airport. Most recently, the panel in February gave the green light to two projects that had been deemed inconsistent with the airport’s development plan, at 1400 Bristol St. and 1401 Quail St. It also overrode the commission last September in order to move forward at several other sites in the area.

The proposed apartment complex receiving the City Council’s approval this week would be seven stories tall and reach a height of about 100 feet. It would be built at 1600 Dove St., the current site of an office building, about 2 miles away from the airport. It was recommended for approval by the city’s planning commission in May.

“My issue doesn’t hold with overriding ALUC right now,” Councilman Noah Blom said. “We’ve done it before. We’re happy to do it again to produce housing.”

The location is within the 60 dBA noise contour area around JWA, according to a city staff report. That refers to the space in which residents and business near the airport should regularly expect to hear runway noise as loud as 60 decibels.

Members of the ALUC, which oversees development near the airport, believed residents at the proposed apartment complex would be exposed to higher noise levels than the site is coded for, according to the minutes of their June 20 meeting. One reason might be because noise contours aren’t solid barriers, and the site is relatively close to the 65 dBA area. The sound of planes taking off is also much louder at higher elevations, so people living on the upper floors of the 100-foot tall building would hear more than just 60 decibels.

The commission found that the proposed residential structure on Dove Street was not consistent with JWA’s Airport Environs Land Use Plan, planting a hurdle in its way.

The City Council on July 9 voted 5-0-2 to ignore the commission’s findings and step over that obstacle. That course of action is tentatively approved, pending a second reading scheduled for council’s Aug. 27 meeting.

Council members Brad Avery, Noah Blom, Robyn Grant, Lauren Kleiman and Erik Wiegrand were in favor of moving forward with the project, while Mayor Will O’Neill and Mayor Pro Tem Joe Stapleton abstained due to potential conflicts of interest.

Critics of overriding the commission say noise at the development site needs to be studied further before moving forward. Fred Fourcher of the Southern California Pilot’s Assn. raised concerns of possible legal issues down the road.

“I think it opens the city to a lot of liability when you override the Airport Land Use Commission,” Fourcher said during public comment. “And as a resident of Newport Beach I don’t like seeing the city being sued for something that they made a conscious decision to override.”

Supporters of the move said such exceptions must be made in order for Newport Beach to satisfy a directive from the state to plan for additional housing. The city must zone for an additional 4,845 units by the end of the current Regional Housing Needs Assessment cycle, which ends in 2029.