Proposal to boost financial health

Encouraging a summertime water transportation service, attracting more auto businesses like the lucrative Lexus dealership, and urging construction of a bridge at 19th Street and the Santa Ana River are among the proposals in an economic development plan for Newport Beach.

The new plan, now in draft form, is the first such comprehensive guide to the city’s economic development. It includes eight goals to boost Newport’s economic health and specific steps for how to achieve them.

Several of the goals focus on boating and marine businesses, an area some have complained the city has neglected.

One suggestion is to seek private and public funding for a water shuttle service that would take residents and summertime visitors around the harbor to restaurants.

Creating more boat slips for visiting vessels and using city policies to help keep marine businesses in town are also among harbor-related goals.

Newport Beach Chamber of Commerce President Richard Luehrs said he’s heard from some water-dependent businesses that the city hasn’t done all it could to ensure they stay in business. But that view can be at odds with the general business community’s desire that the city essentially get out of its way and not make too many onerous regulations.

“In one instance I’ve heard people say, ‘Let us develop what’s best for how to make a buck,’ ” he said. “On the other hand, there are people that say we need to preserve the character of the harbor.”

The economic plan seems to try to answer both of those concerns. It also outlines how the city can help urge revitalization of aging commercial areas such as the Balboa Peninsula.

“The economic development plan actually parallels fairly closely, we hope, the general plan that was passed last November,” said Councilman Michael Henn, a member of the committee that drafted the plan.

A few of the plan’s provisions might raise some eyebrows — for example, re-establishing a fee for when developers or business owners can’t provide the required parking, and supporting construction of the 19th Street bridge.

The bridge would connect 19th Street in Costa Mesa to Banning Avenue in Huntington Beach. Costa Mesa has long opposed the bridge and fought to have it removed from the county’s master transportation plan, because officials say it will dump traffic on them.

Newport Beach, on the other hand, has backed the bridge for years as a way to ease traffic on its streets. Assistant City Manager Sharon Wood said the bridge is part of the city’s general plan, but she doesn’t envision Newport actively lobbying for it.

Still, Costa Mesa may not be pleased at Newport’s reaffirming support for the 19th Street bridge. For Costa Mesa Mayor Allan Mansoor, there has to be give and take for him to reconsider the city’s stance on the bridge.

“The question comes up, ‘Where would the traffic [from 19th Street] go once it hit Harbor Boulevard or Newport Boulevard?’ ” Mansoor said. “That’s where Newport has to play ball with things like the extension of the [Costa Mesa] 55 Freeway.”

The Newport Beach City Council meets today at 4 p.m. for a study session, followed by a regular meeting at 7 p.m., at 3300 Newport Blvd. The study session will cover the draft of a first-time economic development plan for the city, and the council will vote at the meeting on a trash hauler for Newport Coast. To view the economic report or other items on the council agenda, click here.