ON THE AGENDA Here are some decisions...

ON THE AGENDA

Here are some decisions out of the Newport Beach City Council

Tuesday.

BLOCKING CARS ON BLOCKS

Newport Beach has never been the kind of place where homes have

cars up on blocks in their front yards. Now, it never will be.

The council on Tuesday passed an ordinance that forbids homeowners

from storing or parking cars anywhere on their property except in a

driveway, garage or carport.

The action stemmed from the city’s attempts to clean up a Dover

Shores home.

The house has mostly been cleaned up and the homeowner, Elmer

Thomassen, has since died. But council members decided it was a good

idea to have such a law on the books anyway.

Councilman Don Webb was absent.

WHAT IT MEANS

The law does not affect street parking. It applies only to private

property, mainly yards.

SHORT-TERM RENTALS

Homeowners in areas zoned for single-family housing, who want a

permit to rent out their home for less than a month will no longer be

able to get one. In an attempt to limit summer rentals in the city’s

family-oriented neighborhoods, the council agreed to stop issuing new

permits for these short term rentals. Councilman Dick Nichols

dissented.

WHAT IT MEANS

In the last 12 years, about 61 homes in these residential areas

known as R-1 have applied for permits for short-term rentals.

Everyone who currently holds such a permit will be allowed to renew

it.

But no one else will have the opportunity.

WHAT THEY SAID:

“I think this helps to maintain property values for homeowners,”

City Atty. Bob Burnham said.

FOURTH OF JULY

A first step in the annual march to control Fourth of July

rowdiness in West Newport Beach, the council approved closing down

some streets in the area.

WHAT IT MEANS

The closures were controversial last year when the city was

looking for new ways to avert public drunkenness and other crime.

This year, approval of this first step was much more routine.