Protect the ENC

Planning Commission Meeting Information & Community Update

For more than 50 years, the Environmental Nature Center (ENC) has provided environmental education, wildlife habitat, and outdoor learning opportunities for the Newport Beach community. Today, the ENC and ENC Nature Preschool serve tens of thousands of children, families, students, and visitors annually.

A proposed residential development at 1501 E. 16th Street, directly adjacent to the ENC campus and preschool, is currently moving through the City review process.

The ENC has participated in four meetings with the developer, DR Horton, since May 2025 in an effort to better understand the project and discuss potential mitigation measures. Despite these discussions, substantial concerns remain unresolved, and the ENC does not support the project as currently proposed.

Official Project Documents: The official plans and application materials submitted to the City of Newport Beach for the proposed development at 1501 E. 16th Street can be viewed HERE. Community members are encouraged to review the submitted materials directly.

Upcoming Planning Commission Meeting – We Need Our Community to Show Up!

The upcoming Planning Commission meeting is an important opportunity for City decision-makers to hear directly from the community.

Meeting Date: June 18, 2026 6PM
Location: City Council Chambers, 100 Civic Center Drive, Newport Beach, CA 92660

You do not need to speak to make a difference. A strong turnout sends a clear message that the community values and supports the ENC. Please invite friends, family, neighbors, grandparents, and anyone who values the ENC.

If you are willing to speak, we encourage you to briefly share why the ENC matters to you, why protecting this space is important, and your concerns about the proposed development and its impacts. Public comments are typically limited to approximately 3 minutes (or less) per speaker.

The ENC’s Primary Concerns

The ENC’s concerns fall into three primary categories:

• Safety, security, privacy, and wellbeing of the children, families, students, and visitors who use our campus, including preserving the ENC as a peaceful natural refuge where people can step away from the surrounding urban environment and meaningfully connect with nature.
• Protection of the environmental integrity of our site, restored habitat, and educational mission.
• Compatibility with the surrounding neighborhood and broader community, including impacts to local traffic, pedestrian safety, quality of life, and the long-term wellbeing of one of Newport Beach’s longest-standing educational and environmental institutions.

The ENC’s Key Concerns Regarding the Proposed Development

 Building Height & Massing

The proposed three-story buildings, reaching 43.4 feet in height, would significantly alter the ENC’s natural setting, create substantial shading impacts that could negatively affect existing habitat and native plant communities, diminish the sense of openness central to the educational experience, and overlook teaching areas including the Nature Playscape of the ENC Nature Preschool, reducing privacy in spaces where students spend the majority of their day outdoors. The ENC has requested a maximum of two stories adjacent to the campus and elimination of second story balconies and rooftop decks. The ENC also requested installation of story poles to help the community and decision-makers better visualize the true scale and visual impacts of the proposed structures. The developer declined these requests. Buildings are proposed along the entirety of the ENC property line, meaning school programs, camps, weddings, fundraisers, and community events would occur in close proximity to the visual dominance of these structures and the intrusion of dense residential development, where there was once a view of the open sky. The ENC is concerned this would substantially impact both educational programming and the natural atmosphere that has defined the campus for decades.

Setbacks & Buffering

The ENC requested a 30-foot setback along the property line to provide meaningful vegetation buffers, habitat protection, and separation from valuable educational spaces, but current plans include setbacks as small as 10.5 feet, with portions of paving and pathway areas extending into the buffer zone. The ENC remains concerned that setbacks of this size do not provide sufficient space for an effective landscape or ecological buffer between the development and ENC property.

Privacy & Noise

The ENC remains concerned about elevated outdoor areas such as balconies, rooftop decks, and patios overlooking preschool and educational spaces, creating privacy, noise, and line-of-sight impacts directly adjacent to areas used by children, students, and visitors seeking a quiet and immersive natural environment.

Traffic & Parking

The proposed development is expected to increase traffic along 16th Street near local schools and the ENC, raising concerns regarding pedestrian safety, congestion, construction traffic, and overflow parking due to the limited number of visitor parking spaces proposed.

Construction Impacts

With construction projected to last approximately 18–24 months, the ENC is concerned about prolonged noise, dust, air quality impacts, and operational disruption to camps, field trips, preschool programs, outdoor educational activities, and public visitation occurring throughout the campus.

Environmental Concerns

The proposed development borders restored native habitat that has taken decades to establish, raising concerns regarding shading, lighting, root intrusion, wildlife disturbance, and long-term impacts to sensitive ecological and educational areas.

Long-Term Operational & Financial Impacts

The ENC anticipates that construction impacts and long-term adjacency impacts could significantly reduce program participation, camps, facility rentals, event attendance, and preschool enrollment during and after construction. Because these programs directly fund operations, staffing, and educational access, the ENC believes the cumulative financial impacts over time could result in operational losses in the millions of dollars, substantially affecting the organization’s long-term sustainability and its ability to continue serving the community at its current level.

Stay involved: sign up for email alerts (check the “ENC Land Protection Updates” box) to be first to hear what’s next in protecting this irreplaceable green space. Together, we can keep the ENC’s sanctuary safe for generations to come.

* Project renderings and graphics are taken from application materials submitted by the developer to the City of Newport Beach and made publicly available through the City’s website, linked above.