Minor Back Bay dredging gets OK

June Casagrande

NEWPORT BEACH -- Some Upper Newport Bay homeowners whose boats are

practically beached at low tide can now get permits to have their dock

areas dredged, the California Costal Commission has decided.

Since 1999, it has been virtually impossible to get a permit to dredge

silt and clay accumulations from near private docks in portions of the

Back Bay. This is because contaminants such as metals settle into the

silt and become a hazard when stirred up by dredging. In 2000, a renewal

of a permit the commission issues to the city required a study on the

presence of contaminants before any new permits could be issued.In the

meantime, silt has been building and building.

“Without being able to dredge, the use of your dock and the use of

your boat becomes less and less possible,” said Tony Melum, head of the

city’s Division of Harbor Resources.

In fact, according to a report Melum delivered to council, “Without

routine dredging, Upper Bay would ‘silt up’ to a marshland, with little

or no open water between Jamboree and Newport Dunes.”

The city completed the study and submitted an application to the

commission last summer. On March 5, commissioners finally signed off on

the request -- a welcome move for the owners of the approximately 1,200

private and commercial docks in the city.

“Homeowners with docks have been caught in the middle and we’ve been

working very hard to try and get this resolved for them,” said City

Councilman Steve Bromberg, whose district includes Balboa Island. “This

is a good thing for them.”

The Coastal Commission vote also helps advance the city’s goal of

dredging public navigational channels.

The Upper Newport Bay was last dredged in late 1998 and early 1999 --

a $7-million project that moved about 900,000 cubic yards of sediment

from public waterways.

Since then, the city has been working with the county, some

neighboring cities, water agencies and the Department of Fish and Game to

create a plan for major dredging by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. The

$33-million project would move 2.7-million cubic yards of sediment from

the bay. The project, called the Upper Newport Bay Ecosystem Restoration

Project, would also restore some wildlife habitat, increase blue-water

views, move islands of least terns and open up several island channels to

the middle portion of the Upper Bay.

But federal budget constraints have thrown a wrench into the works.

Local officials are urging their Congressman, Chris Cox, to push for

authorization of the project.

* June Casagrande covers Newport Beach. She may be reached at (949)

574-4232 or by e-mail at o7 june.casagrande@latimes.comf7 .