Committee to Oversee Peninsula Work

A new council committee will oversee planned improvements to the Balboa Peninsula.

City Council members recently approved the committee, but no date has been set for the group’s first meeting.

Councilman John W. Hedges, who represents the peninsula, will serve as committee chairman. He said he expects that the committee will first review plans to create more parking.

Mayor Janice A. Debay, who lives in West Newport, and Councilman John E. Noyes Jr., who represents Balboa Island, also will sit on the committee.

Councilman Tom Thomson opposed the panel, saying he believed it would create another city bureaucracy.

The other council members said they hoped establishing a regular panel devoted to the project would foster public discussion.

“I think it’s less intimidating for some people to come before a committee than the City Council,” Noyes said.