Newport looks for solutions to construction-related neighborhood parking squeeze

Newport Beach might add regulations to builder schedules in an attempt to curb the parking crunches that come with heavy home remodeling.

The City Council seems open to barring most construction on Saturdays and adding time limits to building permits after discussing the issue — a common one in Newport.

“You get these good times in the economy like we have now, where everyone is scraping and virtually the neighborhood becomes an unbearable construction site,” Mayor Marshall Duffield said during a Tuesday study session.

As of Tuesday, the city had 2,452 active building permits. By Friday, it had 2,481, with a total valuation of $660.9 million. This includes commercial, residential and city facility projects of all sizes.

District 5, which includes Balboa Island and Big Canyon, accounted for 533 of those. District 1, which covers the Balboa Peninsula and Lido Isle, District 3, which covers Santa Ana Heights, Dover Shores and other areas along the west side of Newport Bay, and District 6, which covers Corona del Mar, each had more than 400 permits.

With those projects come workers — contractors and subcontractors in a fleet of trucks, plus large bins to hold wood scraps, tile remnants and other construction waste — often parking on the street.

Community Development Director Seimone Jurjis said local property values have doubled in the last six years, fueling the city’s economic engine through property tax revenues.

“I never want it to seem like we’re trying to attack the contractors or the amount of development,” he said. “We just need to figure out what’s the right balance for the community.”

That could mean changing when builders can work and for how long.

The city currently only bars building on Sundays. Jurjis said the city spoke with five general contractors that work in the area and got a positive response to limiting building on Saturdays because it would allow workers some time off.

He said the city would allow exceptions for emergency repairs, public works projects and commercial projects, where ample worker parking is available.

He also floated the idea of requiring builders to complete projects within a certain time frame — a requirement that also currently does not exist locally, although only about 30 permits have been active for four years or greater.

By comparison, Santa Monica requires projects to be completed within one to four years, depending on value. Hillsborough, in the Bay Area, puts nine-month to two-and-a-half-year limits on projects, also depending on value. El Segundo requires all projects to be done within three years.

Jurjis said Newport can also do a better job of educating builders on city rules, such as local codes, the street sweeping schedule and the permitting process to close a street or alley.

Councilman Scott Peotter said he favored a progressive but flexible set of requirements, such as parking plans and material delivery schedules, for builders as streets get more simultaneous job sites.

Councilman Jeff Herdman said something needs to be done to address construction impacts, but understood that vehicles are part of the process.

“(For) a lot of these construction workers, their toolbox is their truck,” he said. “They’ve got to have it on site with them. It’s a dilemma.”

Terry Jansen, past president of Balboa Island Improvement Assn., said that he’s had as many as nine houses under construction on his street. Between construction workers and vacation rental guests, a street can have only half of its on-street parking available for residents, he said.

Last Sunday, Jansen drove every street on the island’s two sections and counted 40 homes visibly under construction.

“That doesn’t count the construction that we have that you don’t see, like bathrooms,” he said.

Councilman Brad Avery said axing Saturdays might make projects take longer overall, but will provide neighbors relief. Duffield and Councilwoman Diane Dixon also supported taking Saturdays off the calendar.

The local construction boom is unlike anything Avery said he’s seen in all his years in town.

“We’re the victims of prosperity here,” he said.

hillary.davis@latimes.com

Twitter: @Daily_PilotHD