History

SPON is dedicated to preserving the existing charm and beauty of our City, as mandated by voters in the 2006 General Plan Vision Statement.  Adherence to the City’s residential character and residential density makes it crucial to form zoning and planning regulations that promote this vision and goal, sustaining the City of Newport Beach as an unparalleled place to live, visit and work.

SPON started after a 1974 torrential rainstorm that filled Newport Bay with every variety of unsavory clutter. Claudia Hirsch and Jean Watt, noticing the huge proliferation of debris, used this as a catalyst issue whose time had come: protect and preserve Newport Beach’s unique environment. A core group of activists and citizens from past groups such as Newport Residents United, Freeway Fighters and others led the way for much needed environmental awareness of Newport Bay. Other crucial issues such as the expansion of John Wayne Airport, intensity of planned development, persistent and growing traffic, building density, loss of open space, and the protection of the resources that make our City a unique environment, all became watch words and core concerns to the early SPON members.

There were soon many City issues that would either receive attention from, be started by, or developed in collaboration with SPON. Many other organizations often took the lead and sometimes used SPON’s resources, mailing list and other contacts to help jump start awareness of a variety of issues.

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Today SPON cooperates with many non-profit community organizations, homeowner associations, our City, our County, and others. For example,

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Newport Beach is a gem of a City.  And that is by no accident.  Our City celebrates a unique environment largely because SPON members and citizens have taken the initiative to:

• Limit the number of flights and passengers using Orange County Airport and maintain the current night curfew
• Stop a coastal freeway from dividing Newport Beach in two
• Limit the height of buildings ringing the waterfront
• Keep the Upper Bay an undeveloped and natural estuary
• Provide adequate numbers of pump-out stations for boats
• Require housing developers to dedicate land for public parks
• Promote a cleaner bay and stop inland nurseries from releasing algae-producing nutrients that run into the bay
• Convince the Irvine Company to dedicate open space around the Upper Bay
• Require developments that generate traffic to improve traffic flow on streets and intersections
• Keep beaches and the bay clean with periodic clean-up events

SPON is for everyone. Please join us as we work to protect and preserve Newport Beach’s unique environment. SPON dues are tax deductible. General contributions are too, and are always welcome and put to good use.

New member applications, membership renewals and Supporter options are available on our Support page.