Newport's New Proposed Stadium for Newport Coast High School Attendies to CDM High
Will This affect local Home Values???
Dozens Attend Meeting to Discuss CdMHS Stadium Proposal
UPDATED to add information from a school district spokeswoman.
About 40 people attended a meeting with Newport Beach City Councilman Tony Petros this week, discussing concerns about a proposed new stadium that could be built on the Corona del Mar High School campus.
The meeting lasted about 90 minutes Wednesday night and was held in a clubroom at the Bluffs. City Manager Dave Kiff also attended.
“What I tried to do was generally provide some basic facts,” Petros said in an interview after the meeting. “I thought it went well.”
The Newport-Mesa School District board authorized funding $7.4 million for the proposed stadium, which would include an all-weather field and track and seating for up to 1,000 people. The board could select an architect for the project at a Jan. 28 meeting.
Some residents who live near the school have attended Newport Beach City Council meetings, opposing the project because of traffic congestion and other negative effects on the community.
Petros has told them, and reiterated at the Wednesday meeting, that the stadium is not a city project but rather a district project, which limits city oversight. He explained the process that such projects go through, including possible environmental reviews.
“There were a lot of questions after that,” he said. “They were all excellent questions, but they were being asked at the wrong arena.”
Concerned residents, he said, should contact the school board.
“The city will be monitoring this, but residents should not expect the city to carry their water,” he said.
No district officials were at the meeting, but Petros said he planned to invite Board President Karen Yelsey and Superintendent Frederick Navarro to a public meeting that could be held in the Civic Center’s Community Room. Petros had not yet reached out to those district officials, he said.
The standing-room only crowd was not entirely against the planned stadium, Petros said.
“There were folks in favor,” he said. “One guy just wanted to know what’s going on.”
Public outreach by the school district on the issue has been minimal, Petros said. But the City of Newport Beach Community Development Department staff has prepared a brochure about the project. The brochure is available at the Civic Center and was mailed to residents near the school.
Petros said it was not the city’s responsibility to mail the brochure to all CdMHS families who might be interested in the stadium.
“I would suggest the school district do the wide net and be good neighbors,” he said.
District spokeswoman Laura Boss said that nobody from the district had been invited to the Wednesday meeting, but the district is committed to reaching out with information to the community.
“(W)e will be sending another mailing to the same 2,000 plus individuals with a process timeline and additional information that we have available at this time,” Boss said in an email. “The issue seems to be that residents believe the project is imminent. There are several steps in the process yet to be completed and every step with provide an opportunity for public input.”
The letter will ask anyone who has concerns to sign for an email list so they can be informed about meetings and communications about the process, she said.
“I am working closely with Newport Beach Community Development Department on all future correspondence and meetings,” Boss wrote.
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