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Upper Newport Bay (Collection on)
MS.R.094
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Table of contents
Contributing Institution:
Special Collections and Archives, University of California, Irvine
Libraries
Title: Collection on Upper Newport Bay
Creator:
University of California, Irvine. Library. Government Information
Collection
Identifier/Call Number: MS.R.094
Physical Description:
6.1 Linear Feet
(7 boxes and 3 oversize folders)
Date (inclusive): circa 1949-1997
Abstract: Collection contains chiefly
governmental and non-governmental agency reports concerning the controversial 1965 Upper
Newport Bay proposed land exchange between the County of Orange and the Irvine Company.
Materials include plans and proposals for preservation of the bay; information on its flora,
fauna, and geology; correspondence; legal documents; audio recordings; and printed ephemera.
Public and expert meeting agendas, environmental surveys and policy reviews, and legal
opinions and briefs further illustrate the complexity of the issues, groups and individuals
involved.
Language of Material:
English .
Collection is open for research.
Property rights reside with the University of California. Literary rights are retained by
the creators of the records and their heirs. For permissions to reproduce or to publish,
please contact the Head of Special Collections and University Archives.
Collection on Upper Newport Bay. MS-R94. Special Collections and Archives, The UC Irvine
Libraries, Irvine, California. Date accessed.
For the benefit of current and future researchers, please cite any additional information
about sources consulted in this collection, including permanent URLs, item or folder
descriptions, and box/folder locations.
Some materials now in this collection were first given to Linda Adams (UCI Government
Information Librarian) by Frances Robinson in 1978. Additional materials on the subject
collected from the early 1970s to the present, have been added by Government Information
librarians. Collection transferred to Special Collections and Archives, 2002.
Processed by Andre Ambrus, 2003. Additional materials processed by Audrey Pearson,
2007.
In the 1960s, after preparing the legal groundwork for over a decade, the Irvine Company
(Orange County, California) proposed a major land swap with the County of Orange. The
proposal was unanimously approved by the Orange County Board of Supervisors in 1965. The
project, involving an exchange of publicly owned tidelands on the Upper Newport Bay in
Orange County for Irvine Company-owned blufflands, was intended to pave the way for the
development of a marina, housing developments, and recreational facilities along the Upper
Newport Bay shoreline.
Though environmental activism was relatively unknown at the time, the plan quickly met with
resistance from local residents. Several grassroots environmental groups were formed and in
1967 the Friends of the Newport Bay (FONB), the most vocal and instrumental group, held its
first meeting. Local Newport Beach residents J. Frank and Frances Robinson were instrumental
in forming FONB. The subsequent interest and reporting by local and state media raised
public awareness and directed attention to controversial elements of the transaction.
In 1969, as a result of this new awareness, six Newport Beach residents, led by the
Robinsons, filed as intervenors in a friendly lawsuit to challenge the constitutionality of
the trade, halt the project, and reverse the decisions made by the Orange County Board of
Supervisors. The ongoing suits and their media coverage resulted in increasing public demand
for the retention of Upper Newport Bay land for public usage. Through a combination of
political and legal actions the land exchange was canceled in 1971. In 1974 the idea for the
Upper Bay Reserve plan won federal approval and in 1975, ten years after the initial land
exchange proposal, the Upper Newport Bay Ecological Reserve was dedicated.
| 1965 | Formal agreement is signed between Orange County and Irvine Co. for the exchange of privately held bluff lands for publicly held tide lands in order to facilitate residential development of Upper Newport Bay. |
| 1967 | State Lands Commission gives its endorsement to land exchange. |
| 1967 | Friends of Newport Bay is formed. |
| 1969 | Exchange is first tested in court. Frances and Frank Robinson and four other Newport Beach homeowners file as intervenors. |
| 1969 | Santa Barbara oil spill raises public awareness about environmental issues. |
| 1970 | Retention of Upper Newport Bay for public park is urged. |
| 1971 | New Board of Supervisors votes to cancel the Upper Newport Bay land exchange agreement between Orange County and the Irvine Company. |
| 1973 | Upper Bay land trade is held unconstitutional by the Supreme Court of California. |
| 1973 | Irvine Company decides not to appeal ruling, thus effectively giving up on its earlier development plans, and in addition, agrees to sell its bluff lands for a wildlife preserve. |
| 1974 | Plans for a preserve in the Upper Bay win federal approval. |
| 1975 | Upper Newport Bay Ecological Reserve is dedicated. |
Collection Scope and Content Summary
Collection contains chiefly governmental and non-governmental agency reports concerning the
controversial 1965 Upper Newport Bay proposed land exchange between the County of Orange and
the Irvine Company. Materials include plans and proposals for preservation of the bay;
information on its flora, fauna, and geology; correspondence; legal documents; audio
recordings; and printed ephemera. Public and expert meeting agendas, environmental surveys
and policy reviews, and legal opinions and briefs further illustrate the complexity of the
issues, groups and individuals involved.
This collection is arranged into 5 series.
- Series 1. Legal documents, circa 1962-1975. 0.6 linear ft.
- Series 2. Research materials, circa 1949-1973. 0.8 linear ft.
- Series 3. Governmental and non-governmental publications, 1963-1996. 1.8 linear ft.
- Series 4. Newspaper clippings, 1963-1972. 0.7 linear ft.
- Series 5. Topical files, 1952-1997. 2.2 linear ft.
Subjects and Indexing Terms
Letters -- California -- Orange County -- 20th century.
Newport Bay (Calif.) -- History -- Archives.
Newport Bay (Calif.) -- Archives.
Environmental impact statements -- California -- Upper Newport Bay --
20th century.
Wetland conservation -- California -- Upper Newport Bay
Public lands -- California -- Upper Newport Bay -- History --
Sources
Green movement -- California -- Upper Newport Bay
Wetland restoration -- California -- Upper Newport Bay
Coasts -- California -- Upper Newport Bay
Coastal zone management -- California -- Upper Newport Bay
Ecological reserves -- California -- Upper Newport Bay
Land use -- California -- Upper Newport Bay
Legal documents -- California -- Orange County -- 20th
century
Sound recordings -- California -- Orange County -- 20th
century.
Plans -- California -- Orange County -- 20th century.