INSIDE CITY HALL Here are some decisions...

INSIDE CITY HALL

Here are some decisions coming out of Tuesday’s Newport Beach City

Council meeting:

FICUS TREE MAINTENANCE

In what has become an annual process, the council once again

approved $60,000 for maintaining ficus trees whose roots can become

destructive when they’re allowed to grow too far. The $60,000 will go

toward pruning, root pruning and installing root barriers on some of

the city’s most problematic ficus trees.

WHAT IT MEANS

Solutions for controlling ficus tree root growth -- and the legal

liability that comes with that growth -- are invariably temporary

solutions. For example, root barriers often only work for about three

to five years. Nonetheless, these growth-control strategies give city

officials more time to deal with problem trees and, thus, more

options besides just tearing them all out at once.

WHAT THEY SAID

“I personally hope we don’t have a massive program of taking out a

lot of ficus trees all at once,” Councilman Don Webb said.

SHIPYARD AREA EXPANSION

A plan to build a mixed-use project on the peninsula took its

first major step forward Tuesday when the council hired a consultant

to do an environmental report on the project. The $73,060 contract

with Monarch Beach company Hodge & Associates will cover the cost of

an environmental report on Bill Blurock’s 2.4-acre property at 2300

Newport Blvd. The project calls for 30 loft-style residential units

above two partially subterranean parking garages and retail

commercial space. The report will consider parking, traffic and

environmental concerns that could arise from the project.

-- Compiled by June Casagrande