Project short by $13.8M

Tug boats will begin carrying loads of clean beach sand fresh from Upper Newport Bay and dumping it about 1,000 yards off West Newport in the next few weeks.

The sand drops, which officials hope will become part of local beaches one day, could be one of the final parts of the Upper Newport Bay dredging project that will be completed before funding dries up, said Chris Miller, supervisor for Newport Beach Harbor Resources.

“We’re trying to figure out a way to possibly extend the project by a few more months,” Miller said.

With no more funding lined up after the first phase of the dredging is scheduled for completion in late April, the project is short about $13.8 million, according to the city’s latest estimate.

“There’s probably about a 50-50 chance right now [that no more funding will be awarded],” said Newport Beach Assistant City Manager Dave Kiff. “There’s no money in the pipeline right now.”

Set-up and tear-down costs for the dredging equipment could cost an additional $2 million if the project runs out of money, Kiff said. It would be cheaper if the work were allowed to keep going, eliminating the need to take down equipment and set it up again if and when more money is found, Kiff said.

The cost the city will pay for the dredging itself also will go up during the next phase of the project, Kiff said, in part because of the rising cost of fuel.

“We know cost is going to go up — that’s the bottom line,” Kiff said. “It’s a question of how much.”

The city is examining a number of options to obtain more money for the project, Kiff said.

City and county officials have asked U.S. Sens. Barbara Boxer and Dianne Feinstein for more money in federal appropriations in fiscal year 2009, which begins in October. More money also could come from the Army Corps of Engineers, which oversees the dredging project, this fiscal year from leftover money originally budgeted for other projects, Kiff said.

With some creative budgeting, and about $2.2 million in federal earmark money awarded late last year, officials may be able to keep the project going for another two to five months after the first phase of the project wraps up late next month, Kiff said.

The next phase of the Upper Bay dredging could be completed in about a year, but only if more federal funding becomes available, he said.

Phase II of the Upper Bay dredging will include finishing dredging out sediment from a large bed in the bottom of the upper bay, and monitoring the habitat of birds in the area, said Jane Grandon, a civil engineer for the Army Corps of Engineers. The first phase of the project that will wrap up this spring only represents about 50-60% of the work that needs to be done.

“We only got a little over half the money we needed to do the job,” Grandon said.

BRIANNA BAILEY may be reached at (714) 966-4625 or at brianna.bailey@latimes.com.