Newport Beach – Mariners Village

COMMUNITY CHARACTER

•  Connects the waterfront to the neighborhood
•  200 foot blocks create a village feel – Riverside Ave., Tustin Ave., Avon St. Extension.
•  Mix of uses including maritime businesses, retail, restaurants, housing, office.
•  Vista points at water access points.
•  Celebrates maritime heritage through signage, design, local architecture.

IDENTITY

•  Allow mix of uses that includes maritime businesses.
•  Celebrate maritime history, landmarks and historic businesses.
•  Celebrate maritime recreation – gondolas, Duffy boats, charters and motorized and non-motorized water sports.
•  Restaurants
•  Identity opportunity sites (using design features, signage, public art, lighting) East and West Gateways, water access points, intersections, along the boardwalk, and throughout the village.

CONNECTIVITY

•  Establish 4 distinct access points for public access located at intersections with pavilions for easy identification with public piers and guest dock(s)
•  Implement consistent design features and way finding signage to create Mariners’ Mile identity
•  Will require discussions with property owners regarding re-configuration of buildings, re-design to create a more accessible, water-oriented experience

BOARDWALK

•  Create a contiguous (to the extent feasible) waterside boardwalk 12 feet wide for pedestrians and bicyclists (cruisers).
•  Retain maritime businesses along waterfront.
•  Create public piers and guest docks.
•  Phase I would be from Riverside to the bridge to Lido Village
•  No separate bridge across Newport Bay needed.

PARKING

•  Up to 4 proposed parking structure locations within the Village Core.
•  Add approximately 700 new parking spaces.
•  Clear and pedestrian-friendly connections to parking throughout Village Coreand Coast Highway.
•  Short walks from parking to Coast Highway and Waterfront.
•  The City Lot structure includes a green roof/usable roof that expands public open space and connects to the park above. The cascading design connects Newport Heights neighborhood to Village and Coast Highway.

Shared Parking The Residential, Office, and Restaurant peak-hour parking demands do not occur at the same time. Office parking is in high demand during work hours, whereas the peak Residential hours are after work. Restaurants’ highest demand is during mid-day (lunch) and evening (dinner), thus overlapping with both Office and Residential peak times. When mixing uses, rather than requiring enough total spaces for each use at its peak (and assuming that all of the peaks occur simultaneously), it is a best practice to understand and build the maximum number of spaces that are needed throughout the day according to the blend of uses, including taking into account that one use at its peak can use the vacated parking of another use when it is at low demand. This technique lowers the total number of spaces that must be provided and is much more efficient from a cost and space standpoint.

TRAFFIC FLOW

•  Alternative One – Additional lanes/no parking
•  Seven (7) Lanes to increase speed and capacity
•  Not CNU-CA Recommendation

•  Alternative Two – Access Managed Traffic Flow
•  Five (5) Lane Boulevard Travel Lanes + two (2) new lanes off Coast Hwy
•  CNU-CA Recommendation

Access Management

We’ve chosen to use multiple Access Management (AM) tools to achieve our stated goals. These AM practices, principles, and strategies guide our decision to coordinate and support land use planning recommendations with new traffic facility recommendations. Our coordinated AM elements support the goals and objectives of a range of place-based transportation management systems such as friction management, parking management, congestion management, and safety management. These elements include: the two (2) new lanes added to the study area via Avon Street extension (in place of widening Coast Highway); the three (3) left-turn-lane-managing medians; one (1) new left-turn lane intersection to access the new parking garage on Avon Street extension; one (1) new pedestrian crossing to better link neighborhoods to the harbor front. Furthermore, Avon Street extension allows for more on-street parking on itself and on Coast Highway, for a better pedestrian/bicycle experience, for less turbulence, and for more building
frontage (on itself and on Coast Highway).

Our AM recommendations include corridor design and operation to facilitate public safety. Our recommendations also promote sustainable land use patterns and preserve the investment in private commercial developments that depends on reliable transportation performance. And our recommendations improve the performance and safety of all modes of travel including vehicles, bicycles, and pedestrians, which is a more-comprehensive and -balanced approach than merely increasing the speed of vehicles through this section of Coast Highway. The nature of the land use patterns in Mariners’ Mile indicates that a different approach than Alternative 1 is appropriate here.