Fencing to go up between the Wedge and Balboa Pier for protection of western snowy plovers

Fencing is expected to go up in Newport Beach between D and F streets next month to protect the local population of western snowy plovers — an endangered shorebird that lives along the Pacific Coast, following action taken Tuesday by the City Council under the direction of the California Coastal Commission.

According to the California Fish and Wildlife Department, less than 1,500 breeding western snowy plovers remain in California, and the bird has been listed as a threatened species since 1993.

Nesting efforts are often impacted by unaware human visitors. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has designated the beach area between B and G streets as critical habitat for the species, according to the city’s website, and it is also found in other parts of the Balboa Peninsula east of that area.

Fencing that previously existed to cordon off the area was at some point removed. City staff said the city has been monitoring the area between B Street and the Wedge since 2009 and put up temporary fencing to protect the critical habitat, but it was done without a coastal development permit from the state agency.

Additional fencing was installed in 2017, but the city did not maintain it because of uncertainty about its legality, so the fencing naturally degraded. City spokesman John Pope said it then became a matter of safety, and all remaining fencing was removed in January this year. In a report prepared for Tuesday’s City Council meeting, staff said the city submitted a coastal development application to remove the fencing and indicated its intent to submit a management plan for the species.

But, according to the report, Coastal Commission staff shared a draft list of conditions for the fence application in late March that city staff found unacceptable on the basis of residents’ concerns and City Council direction.

The city then withdrew the Coastal Commission application with the intent of conducting further dialogue.

In the letter addressed to the city from Coastal Commission Enforcement Manager Andrew Willis in April, Willis wrote, “We are disappointed that the city chose to withdraw the application and leave snowy plovers and their habitat without the valuable protection from disturbance, whether from human or dog activity, that the wood-slat fencing previously in place provided.

“[The application] was intended to address the city’s unpermitted removal of the protective wood-slat fence, and, thus, with the city’s withdrawal of the application, enforcement staff will be forced to consider its options to address this matter as a violation of the Coastal Act.”

The letter spells out the Coastal Commission’s concerns with the removal of the fencing and later states its request to the city to reinstall the fencing to avoid formal enforcement action. A formal cease-and-desist draft order was later sent in July to abate the violation, which the City Council approved Tuesday.

As part of that order, the city is required to reinstall and maintain the fencing until issuance of a follow-up coastal development permit that authorizes the permanent fencing. It is expected to be installed by October, based on current time lines, from D and F streets between the Balboa Pier and the Wedge.

“We’re working closely with the Coastal Commission to ensure compliance and habitat protection [of the western snowy plover],” Pope said.