Corona del Mar's Village Strip Runs on Errands. The City's Plan Is Built for Evenings.
October 29, 2026
October 29, 2026
On farmers market mornings, the surface lot at Coast Highway and Marguerite Avenue fills with produce stands. A few blocks away, the Centennial Bench and the clock tower frame the small corner plaza. Most of the storefronts in between are banks, salons and fitness studios, and the City of Newport Beach has now counted them.
The count comes from the city's Corridor Atlas, the working draft behind the Corona del Mar Commercial Corridor Land Use and Mobility Study. It found that neighborhood goods and services fill 54% of ground floors along the corridor. Food and beverage uses, the kind that keep a street busy after 5 p.m., are the smallest share of retail at 26%. Every proposal the city has put forward since then tries to move that 26% upward. Parking will decide whether any of it works.
The study corridor runs about 1.27 miles along East Coast Highway, from Avocado Avenue to Hazel Avenue, and takes in the blocks at MacArthur Boulevard, Marguerite Avenue and Poppy Avenue. The Atlas describes a street of small, often irregular parcels. Most buildings are a single story, and the Port Plaza and the Port Theater are among the few that go higher. The Atlas says existing development is not reaching its potential and sees an opportunity to build up to roughly three stories north of Coast Highway and two stories south of it.
| What the Atlas found | Why it matters for the evening |
|---|---|
| 54% of ground-floor uses are neighborhood services like banks, salons and fitness | These businesses serve residents but, in the Atlas's words, "do not encourage longer stays" |
| 26% of retail is food and beverage, the smallest share | These are the uses the Atlas says can activate the area beyond 9 to 5 |
| Most buildings are one story | Small lots and short buildings make redevelopment difficult |
| Outdoor dining is "present, but not widespread" | Narrow sidewalks limit how much a restaurant can add outside |
The sidewalk finding stands out. The Atlas notes that some existing sidewalk dining conflicts with foot traffic because the sidewalks are so narrow. It also says some of that dining is either unpermitted or out of compliance with the Citywide Sidewalk Café Standards, and it suggests enforcing that encroachment permit program so pedestrians can get through safely. The same document that wants more outdoor dining also wants the existing outdoor dining brought into line. Anyone who has stepped around a café table near the clock tower will recognize the tension.
The Atlas names the Port, the former Newport Theatre, as a local destination for public screenings and private events. It suggests adding food and beverage uses on or around the theater's ground floor to serve evening visitors. Pairing an existing nighttime draw with somewhere to eat before or after is the clearest example in the draft of the shift it has in mind.
Staff presented the amendment package to the Planning Commission at a study session on September 17, 2026. As summarized by Citizen Portal, it contained 14 recommendations.
Staff told the commission the corridor draws nearly 3 million visitors a year, according to that summary. They described the corridor as underbuilt at a floor area ratio of 0.75 and said limited sidewalk space holds back outdoor dining.
The 30-unit cap has history behind it. When staff first presented study results to the City Council in November 2025, the Daily Pilot reported that housing above businesses had been unpopular in community outreach. Councilmember Noah Blom spoke in favor of a residential component, and Mayor Pro Tem Lauren Kleiman stressed addressing community concerns. A small, fixed cap across a 1.27-mile corridor reads as the middle ground that came out of that exchange.
The same November 2025 coverage reported a staff proposal to streamline approvals for preferred restaurant uses and to stop issuing new permits for car washes, auto repair and drive-throughs. That reflects an earlier stage of the study, not the final September package, but the direction matches. Uses that bring people in for a meal would get an easier path, and uses that bring people in for a car service would not.
More restaurants mean more people staying longer, and longer stays mean more cars parked for longer. The Atlas is plain about what the city owns: two lots, the Old School Park Lot and the Bayside Drive Lot, both behind the parcels that front Coast Highway. In outreach, people supported expanding public access to parking through dynamic signage and wayfinding, an employee shuttle, a trolley extension and leases of private lots.
In September, staff turned those ideas into proposals. Citizen Portal's account of the session lists dynamic parking signs, a trolley extension and crosswalk bulb-outs. It also describes an optional monthly in-lieu parking fee that would help pay for leasing private lots and other improvements. Staff acknowledged that the fee's design and coastal constraints still needed work.
Public comment pushed back. That same Citizen Portal report says several residents told the commission that parking and congestion along the corridor are at capacity and spill into nearby neighborhoods. One resident put it this way: "Parking and congestion on this stretch are at the limit." She opposed turning the village into a larger tourist strip and asked for a resident advisory committee.
The walking-side requests come from the same outreach. Businesses asked for more crosswalks, better signage and signal timing, landscaping, bike racks and pedestrian safety features, and open-house attendees supported targeted intersection improvements. The Atlas marks Marguerite and Coast Highway as a principal intersection and calls for stronger wayfinding there and at both ends of the corridor. If the bulb-outs and signals go in where the Atlas points, the farmers market corner is the likeliest place to see the first physical change.
None of this has been adopted. Here is the record as the city's project page and the Planning Commission's Legistar file lay it out.
The city keeps an interest list on the project page for anyone who wants notice when that hearing is set.
The next chance to hear the proposals in person is next Thursday. The Corona del Mar Chamber of Commerce's monthly Good Morning CdM meets Thursday, November 12, from 8 to 9:30 a.m. at Bahia Corinthian Yacht Club, 1601 Bayside Drive. City planners Joselyn Perez and Liz Westmoreland will cover the corridor study and the proposed zoning recommendations. The meeting is open to the community, with coffee and pastry served.
Over the following month, the corridor hosts its own test of what a busier evening and a full-day crowd look like.
Sherman's November calendar fills the gaps. It has Little Seedlings Story Time on November 6 and 13, an acrylic painting session and a regenerative farming talk on November 10, holiday soapmaking on November 12, and the Sherman Sowers Gift Faire on November 13 and 14. Sherman is also building toward evenings. Its on-site restaurant, Hazeltine's, is planned for late summer 2027, according to the Newport Beach Indy.
The Atlas already lists recurring programming like the CdM Farmers Market, Monthly 3rd Thursdays and the Chamber's CdM Fall Fest among the things that bring people onto the corridor. On Christmas Walk day, the parking question from the September hearing will play out across the whole 1.27 miles.
If you own property on or near the Coast Highway corridor and want to talk through what the proposed overlay could mean for it once a hearing date is set, Lena Ghezel is glad to go over the city's documents with you. Request your home valuation to start the conversation.
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