By Grace Leung, Newport Beach City Manager
Our next City Council meeting is Tuesday, August 23. Items of interest are highlighted below. The entire agenda and reports can be viewed here: https://newportbeachca.gov/Home/Components/Calendar/Event/68235/72.
A study session will begin at 4 p.m. Agenda items include:
- A discussion related to electric bicycles. Staff will discuss current regulations, enforcement, education and outreach efforts related to electric bicycles and potential measures to improve user awareness and operations.
The regular session begins at 5:30 p.m. Agenda items include:
- An agreement with the Newport Beach Public Library Foundation for naming rights for the planned Library Lecture Hall.
- Two public hearings: An appeal of a Planning Commission decision approving construction of a new 4,402-square-foot, single-family residence on Bay Island; and a potential municipal code amendment related to housing development density bonuses that would ensure compliance with state law.
- A $6.43-million contract award to Orange-based TELACU Construction Management, Inc. for construction of the Newport Beach Junior Lifeguard Building.
- A two-year grant agreement with Trellis International, a Costa Mesa-based non-profit organization, which works with formerly homeless and housing insecure individuals to re-enter stable employment by participating in needed work projects throughout the City.
You can submit your questions and comments in writing for City Council consideration by sending them to the City Clerk at [email protected]. To give the City Council adequate time to review your questions and comments, please submit your written comments by Monday, August 22, 2022, at 5 p.m. Correspondence received by this deadline will be uploaded to the agenda packet by August 22, 2022 at 5:30 p.m. Material received after the deadline and prior to 2 p.m. on Tuesday, August 23, 2022, will be provided to the City Council in hard copy and will be available to the public at the meeting.
City Council Meeting Information
The Newport Beach City Council meets on the second and fourth Tuesdays of most months (the exceptions are August and December).
Typically, there is a Study Session that starts at 4 p.m. Study sessions are times for the Council to take a deeper look at a specific issue, or hear a presentation, that might eventually lead to a specific and more formal action.
A closed session often follows the Study Session. Closed sessions are typically to address legal, personnel, and other matters where additional confidentiality is important. The Regular (evening) Session typically starts at 6 p.m., and often has a specific listing of different items ready for formal votes. Items on the “Consent Calendar” are heard all at once, unless a Council member has removed (aka “pulled”) an item from the Consent Calendar for specific discussion and separate vote. If an item on the agenda is recommended to be “continued,” it means that the item won’t be heard nor voted on that evening, but will be pushed forward to another noticed meeting.
Public Comment is welcomed at both the Study Session and the Regular Session. The public can comment on any item on the agenda. If you want to comment on a Consent Calendar item that was not pulled from the Consent Calendar by a Council Member, you will want to do so at the time listed on the agenda – right before the Council votes on the entire Consent Calendar (it’s Roman Numeral XIII on the posted agenda).
If an item is pulled, the Mayor will offer that members of the public can comment as that specific item is heard separately. Additionally, there is a specific section of Public Comment for items not on the agenda, but on a subject of some relationship to the city government.
If you cannot attend a meeting and/or want to communicate with the City Council directly, this e-mail gets to all of them: [email protected]. The City Manager also gets a copy of the email, because in almost all cases it’s something that the City Manager follows-up on.
The Council meets in the Council Chambers at 100 Civic Center Drive, off of Avocado between San Miguel and East Coast Highway. There is plenty of parking in the parking structure. You are always welcome to attend in person, but you can also watch on TV, Spectrum channel 30 and Cox channel 852 or stream it on your computer.
This Insider’s Guide is not an attempt to summarize every item on the Agenda – just the ones that seem of specific interest to the City Manager. You are encouraged to read the full agenda if you wish.
