Dredging funding should be on the way

Mathis Winkler

NEWPORT BEACH -- Things are looking good for two bills and a request

for $7.5 million for the dredging on Upper Newport Bay that city

officials are trying to get through the state Legislature.

“We feel very, very, very good about all the votes,” said Councilman

Tod Ridgeway, who joined Asst. City Manager David Kiff on a two-day trip

to Sacramento to testify in favor of the bills.

“You couldn’t have asked for a better result,” he said.

The $7.5 million would secure a local and state match for federal

funds that are needed for the $31-million dredging project that’s

scheduled for 2003.

While a Senate Budget Subcommittee has already left the money in its

version of the budget bill, an Assembly Budget Subcommittee followed suit

this week.

Senate Bill 124, which would transfer a 15-acre parcel of vacant land

along West Coast Highway from the California Department of Transportation

to the state parks department and allow Newport Beach to turn it into a

park after paying $1.3 million to Caltrans, passed unanimously in the

Senate Governmental Organization Committee this week. While Newport Beach

might be the first city to ask for such a transfer of land, the state’s

voters made it possible by passing Proposition 3 in 1978.

Since the land has been appraised for more than $4 million, the city

would save about $3 million and use that money to build the park. That’s

expected to cost up to $6 million, since it will include soccer and

baseball fields, among other things.

While environmental groups and residents in West Newport Beach have

sent letters of support to legislators, the California Transportation

Commission opposes the bill since it would shortchange state highway

funds.

Sen. Ross Johnson (R-Irvine) also introduced Senate Bill 516. That

legislation would allow Newport Beach to issue Coastal Commission permits

for Newport Coast through an already existing local coastal program once

the city annexes that area. It garnered unanimous support in the Senate

Local Government Committee Wednesday.

The bill was introduced to guarantee the complete build out of the

upscale community and prevent legal challenges against the construction

of an additional 850 homes on the basis that Newport Beach doesn’t have

such a program itself.

Lawmakers amended the bill, requiring Newport Beach to certify a

similar program for the city within 36 months of annexing Newport Coast.

City officials said they’d take care of this.

“I will personally oversee that [the certification] happens,” Ridgeway

said.

On March 20, city officials submitted their application for annexation

to the county agency that decides on annexations. Apart from Newport

Coast, Santa Ana Heights and Bay Knolls are also likely to get annexed by

early 2002.