An update from City Hall

This is the time of the year when many people go on vacation and

tourists invade Newport Beach (that’s a good thing); however, there

seems to never be a lack of issues involving the city. I thought this

might be a good time to give you an update as to a number of those

issues.

* Senior housing: As you may have read, the Coastal Commission at

the most recent hearing relative to the affordable senior housing

project on Lower Bayview Landing continued the issue until the first

week in October, which has now been moved to the first week in

November. The most recent hearing was pretty much a disaster, as the

Coastal Commission made it very clear to use that our project would

not go forward.

We will be submitting a new revised plan, which will reflect 120

rental units as opposed to 150, in two buildings as opposed to three

buildings. As with the original plan, our intent is to create a very

real and significant wetland which would be environmentally

sensitive.

In addition, as in the original plan, there will be bike trails

and walking paths. This is a project the entire city can be proud of.

If the project does pass, and that is a big if, in a best-case

scenario, the delay, as a result of the complaint filed against our

project by a local resident, will result in an additional $500,000

state-mandated costs due to prevailing wages plus an additional

$125,000 to $200,000 in additional costs. Ouch.

* Eelgrass: If you have been following the eel grass issue, we

have a very difficult situation, in that the eelgrass, although not

endangered, is protected. Eelgrass is healthy for the fish and helps

clean the water. However, it has become a disaster to boating as well

as private and public enterprise in our harbor.

As an example, if you own a dock, either residential or

commercial, and you have eel grass within 15 feet of that dock, you

can expect to spend anywhere from $15,000 to $40,000 when you are

ready to dredge. This is compared to what was $2,000 or $3,000. This

is due to requirements by state and federal agencies. We have been

trying to work with these agencies; however, we seem to be getting

pushed back each time we do that.

My sense is that we have to approach this issue on a pretty

serious federal level, and to that end, I had requested a meeting

with Rep. Chris Cox in an attempt to seek federal assistance. We met

on Aug. 18, 2003.

In attendance were myself, our city manager, assistant city

manager, our harbor resources manager and his assistant, our Harbor

Commission chairperson, a member of the Orange Coast Realty Assn. and

the Chamber of Commerce Marine Division representative. We requested

both short- and long-term relief.

In the short term, Cox is going to attempt to secure a baseline

for what would be a reasonable amount of eelgrass to exist, at least

at the areas near docks. Right now, if there is only a handful of

eelgrass within 15 feet of your dock, you fall into the big numbers

for dredging.

The short-term goal is to secure a “deminimis” foundation. If this

occurs, and if a dock owner has only a “deminimis” amount of eel

grass present, then the draconian type permitting process from the

outside agencies would no longer require the present form of

mitigation, assuming, of course, the state accepts the federal

standard.

This would probably take care of 80% to 90% of the commercial and

residential docks within Newport Harbor. This is very significant, as

the long-term approach would be to set a true baseline to determine

just what is a reasonable amount of eel grass to have within the

harbor, and once we can establish that, we can then engage in a

harbor area management plan. That would allow us to move forward and

work toward issues of dredging and so many other harbor related

issues.

Cox was truly concerned with our plight, as he does recognize

that, considering we have 9,000 to 10,000 pleasure boats as well as

many commercial boats in the harbor, eelgrass, if not controlled,

could severely impact both pleasure and commerce within our harbor,

and since our harbor is unique, a special dispensation should exist.

* Upper Castaways park: This is the area off of Dover across from

Bob Henry Park. If you have been following this issue, there is a

“turf war” of sorts going on.

Right now, there are only native plantings throughout and much of

those have pretty much died off. There are some folks who want us to

simply leave the area as is, some wish to have regular grass planted

in a very limited area and some would like to see a combination of

different types of natural plantings.

The City Council had a full and very productive study session on

this issue, which resulted in five separate options on how we could

proceed. There was a great deal of public discussion at the study

session, and the issue will be coming back in the near future to the

City Council for a full public hearing. I suspect this will involve a

healthy debate, as there are many people who have man diverse ideas

as to how this park should look.

* General Plan Update: Many of the residents in the city are aware

of this issue, as the process has been going on for about two years.

Every city is required to update its general plan. The general plan

is, in essence, the road map of just how our city should look and

conduct business in the next 15 to 20 years.

Just about everything you can think of that affects your quality

of life is involved in the general plan process. The General Plan

Advisory Committee consists of 38 residents in the city who represent

interests from community, environmental, business, arts and many

more. Their task is by no means an easy one and requires extreme

dedication. Just imagine being part of a committee of 38 people who

come from diverse backgrounds who will ultimately be placed in a

position of unity (hopefully), forwarding their final recommendations

to the City Council as to how the city should “look” in the future.

It will probably be another 1 to 1 1/2 years before that process is

complete.

* G-1 Policy: The G-1 Policy relates to trees in our city. We have

about 40,000 city trees and there are issues relative to tree

removal, reforestation (that is the process of replacing a tree when

one or more trees are removed), tree trimming, as well as the issue

of views that are affected by trees.

The Parks, Beaches and Recreation Commission formed a

sub-committee which has been working with this issue and which has

been holding public hearings. This is one of those issues where once

again, many people have many different ideas as to how our policy

should be changed or even left alone.

This will be coming to the City Council in the very near future,

and I also expect a spirited debate.

* Local Coastal Plan: All cities that exist within the coastal

zone, and that of course, includes Newport Beach, are required to

have a Local Coastal Plan. This issue is overseen by the California

Coastal Commission, and relates to issues such as land use, public

access, parking, water related facilities and just about anything

that can occur at or near the water.

If you have built or remodeled your home, you are probably

familiar with the process of having to secure not only permits from

the city of Newport Beach, but also from the Coastal Commission.

Once our plan is in place, the permitting process would be

exclusive to the city, as opposed to residents being required to

secure a permit from the Coastal Commission. The LCP Committee

consists of three council members and three planning commissioners.

Our draft plan was recently reviewed by the Economic Development

Committee, Environmental Quality Affairs Committee, General Plan

Update Committee, the Planning Commission, Parks, Beaches and

Recreation Commission as well as many individual residents.

There are of course many other issues out there that we are

working on. Hopefully this update has been helpful to you. You might

also want to take a look at the city Web site at

https://www.newport-beach.ca.us for even more detailed information.

* EDITOR’S NOTE: Steve Bromberg is the mayor of Newport Beach.