Here are a few items the council...

Here are a few items the council considered Tuesday.

RIDGE PARK ROAD CROSSING

Pedestrians will be prohibited from crossing Ridge Park Road

within 100 feet in either direction of Newport Coast Elementary

School’s driveway, the council agreed. The ban is the latest in a

chain of measures to increase safety of students and parents entering

and leaving school grounds.

City and school officials also have partnered to build an access

road to ease school traffic, and the traffic signal at Ridge Park

Road and Newport Coast Drive was retimed. Lately parents have been

parking in a private lot opposite the school and taking their

children across the street.

WHAT IT MEANS

Signs about the crossing restriction will be posted and violators

could be ticketed.

NEW PARKING

CITATION DEVICES

City parking enforcement officers issue about 75,000 parking

citations per year, and they may be able to increase their

productivity with new hand-held ticket printing devices. The council

agreed to spend $115,506 on 13 hand-held devices and related

software, replacing devices that are heavy, slow and 7 years old.

WHAT IT MEANS

Don’t park your car illegally or let your meter run out, or you’ll

have even less time to dash into the post office or drop off that

video and still avoid getting a ticket.

DEVELOPER PARKING FEES

The city could look at reviving a fee charged to property owners

in lieu of providing the required amount of parking. It’s already on

the city’s books but hasn’t been charged for about 12 years.

Formerly, property owners with less parking than city code requires

could pay $150 annually for each space they were short. Because of

the city’s ongoing parking shortages, Mayor Steve Bromberg asked for

a study session on the issue.

WHAT IT MEANS

The council will discuss in-lieu parking fees, probably this

summer.

WHAT WAS SAID

“‘Everyone knows that parking spaces in Newport Beach have a high

price tag on them,” Bromberg said.