WATCHDOG

There is so much happening in Newport Beach, going back to the April 1 preview of the general plan. First off, a big “thank you” to the city staff members for taking their Saturday to conduct the workshop, answer our questions and introduce the new draft general plan. We had a 40-minute presentation from the consultant, EIP, who quickly covered the following components: land use plan and diagram; housing opportunities; recreation, arts and cultural; Banning Ranch and natural resources; airport area; neighborhood conservation and historic resources; Newport Center, Fashion Island and Mariner’s Mile; and mobility and circulation. When the presentation ended, we walked around to the different booths, asked questions and learned even more.

According to the slide presentation, there are 42,562 dwelling units or homes in Newport Beach. The new draft general plan will add 9,160 homes over what we have on the ground today, or 20,000 more people. However, the draft environmental report will have the opportunity to add 11,833 more homes or 26,000 more people than today. Apparently, the report has cushion just in case we want to add 2,700 homes, or 5,900 more people later.

Moving on to mobility and circulation ? also known as traffic ? we were amazed that by adding 9,160 homes or 20,000 people, we would have less traffic and improved intersections. With the new general plan, all but five intersections in the city of Newport Beach would achieve a level B ? like a report card, A is the best grade. All we will have to do to decrease traffic and congestion throughout the city is add left hand turn lanes and right hand turn lanes. I am very surprised that we have not started.

Look forward to an aggressive schedule of public hearings, for the general plan and the draft environmental report are a big deal. There are a total of 11 public hearings; five hearings scheduled with the planning commission and six with the City Council. The next one is at 7 p.m. Tuesday in the council chambers with the City Council, followed by one at 3 p.m. on May 4 with the planning commission.

Speaking of missing meetings, a friend suggested I check out the city of Costa Mesa website. I did. Wow, was I amazed to see their video on demand, which is their name for our video streaming also done by Granicus. Besides City Council meetings, Costa Mesa has planning commission, parks and recreation, and redevelopment agency meetings online, as well as joint study sessions.

Newport Beach has a $190-million budget, growing to $200 million. We have a tremendous amount of money, certainly enough to purchase and place a camera in the back of our council chambers and start to do the same kind of public outreach Costa Mesa does.

Keep our soldiers safe.