Newport Beach OKs way to ease energy crisis

Mathis Winkler

NEWPORT BEACH -- It won’t solve the energy crisis, but the city’s

business owners can get emergency electrical generators quicker after

City Council members approved an emergency ordinance this week.

So far, businesses wanting to install such generators had to apply for

a use permit and go through public hearings before the city’s Planning

Commission. Under the new ordinance, which took effect immediately,

Planning Director Patty Temple has the authority to approve such

requests.

Clayton Shurley, who owns Clayton Shurley’s Texas B.B.Q. and serves as

president of the Newport Beach Restaurant Assn., said the move will give

restaurateurs the option to prepare for the worst.

“If you can keep the lights on and the food cooked, you can feed

people and make money,” said Shurley, adding that he’s not planning to

apply for a permit since he’s moving his company in the near future.

“It’s a way of staying in business.”

While business owners haven’t rushed to City Hall to take advantage of

the law change, Dan Marcheano, the owner of Arches Restaurant, installed

a temporary diesel generator this week.

“To me, it’s like insurance,” Marcheano said, adding that he’ll

replace the diesel generator with one that runs on natural gas in the

coming weeks. “I have insurance on everything else . . . I’ve got to be

able to do business and have that security that the place is going to be

operational.

“If I have customers coming in, whether a party of two or 22, you

don’t want them to walk out halfway through their meal when the lights go

out,” he said. “It’s just a sound business decision.”

The decision will set Marcheano back about $50,000, he said, adding

that he plans to take the generator with him when his lease on the

restaurant at the corner of West Coast Highway and Newport Boulevard

expires in the near future.

But while Marcheano can rest easy and doesn’t have to worry about

blackouts any longer, Richard Luehrs, the president and chief executive

officer of the Newport Harbor Area Chamber of Commerce, said he hadn’t

heard about other business owners planning to get generators.

“Whether or not businesses take advantage of [the emergency ordinance]

will dependent upon how real the threat of blackouts continues to be,”

Luehrs said. “I think it’s just a nice proactive approach that the city

is taking and we appreciate their efforts.”

The ordinance only allows for temporary use and placement of emergency

generators for a maximum of two years. Temple may still impose conditions

needed to ensure that the generator won’t bother neighbors or put the

health and safety of people living or working in the surrounding area in

danger.

For more information on obtaining a permit, call (949) 644-3200.