Money boosts boardwalk plan
Paul Clinton
The city received an additional $780,000 from an oil-spill
settlement Thursday to build a boardwalk along the Back Bay’s western
edge.
The city wanted to replace a series of makeshift trails
criss-crossing through the Upper Newport Bay Ecological Reserve.
Those trails are considered illegal, since the land has been set
aside as damaged habitat, Assistant City Manager Dave Kiff said.
“We would like to replace some of those trails with a more
structured boardwalk plan so people could get closer to the bay but
not harm the habitat,” Kiff said.
Preliminary drawings for the project show one long walkway snaking
along Back Bay’s western edge. The city would also install at least
three viewing platforms that would extend into the middle of the
estuary. The six-member board of the trust overseeing the settlement
money unanimously handed the city the funds, which come from Orange
County’s share of the $18.1 million paid out in the 1999 American
Trader settlement. That group is composed of representatives of
Newport Beach, Huntington Beach, the county, the California Coastal
Commission, the Department of Fish and Game and California State
Parks.
It handed the city the $786,340 slice of funding initially given
to the county.
Newport Beach officials also plan to pursue state grant money to
round out the funding for the $3.4-million boardwalk project, which
cannot be started until the city completes an environmental review
and secures approval from a string of agencies.
The gift comes with a requirement that the city nail down those
approvals within one year, Kiff said.
Other money could be secured from the Wildlife Conservation Board,
which hands out money from Proposition 40, the resources bond that
passed last year, Kiff said.
In 1990, the American Trader tanker ran aground offshore of
Huntington Beach, spilling 400,000 gallons of oil along the shoreline
and causing the worst environmental disaster in Orange County
history.
* PAUL CLINTON covers the environment and politics. He may be
reached at (949) 764-4330 or by e-mail at paul.clinton@latimes.com.
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