Our next City Council meeting is Tuesday, May 25. Items that may be of interest are highlighted below. The entire agenda, and all reports, can be viewed at https://newportbeach.legistar1.com/newportbeach/meetings/2021/5/2825_A_City_Council_21-05-25_Agenda.pdf?id=64bc9030-8fb0-4a8e-a021-e9b31919e106.
In-person public comments are welcome. For those participating remotely, please note that City Council meetings will accept remote public comment only through the Zoom platform, with video and audio-only options. If you are viewing the meeting through Zoom, use the “raise hand” function, wait for City staff to announce your name, and unmute your line when it is your turn to speak.
To comment through Zoom’s audio-only option, call 669-900-9128 (Meeting ID 991 0098 4261#), and dial *9 during public comments to join the speaking queue (*6 to unmute when it is your turn).
There will be a Special Joint Meeting of the City Council and Finance Committee at 4 p.m. Link to the agenda: https://newportbeach.legistar1.com/newportbeach/meetings/2021/5/2991_A_Special_Joint_Meeting_of_the_City_Council_and_Finance_Committee_21-05-25_BCC_Agenda.pdf?id=95ba1749-eb6d-4886-baac-7aa00162b10f
- Review of the City’s proposed fiscal year 2021-2022 operating budget, including revenue assumptions, planned expenditures, and program enhancement recommendations. The draft budget is available for public review at newportbeachca.gov/budget.
- Review of the resources and services devoted to maintaining City beaches, including trash pickup, boardwalk ambassadors, lifeguard coverage and code enforcement. City staff will present an overview of the current approach to beach management, along with options for enhanced services.
The Study Session and Regular Meeting begin at 6 p.m. and the following are items of note:
- Review of the proposed fiscal year 2021-2022 capital improvement program (CIP) budget. The $74.8 million CIP proposal includes maintenance and improvement plans for highways, streets and alleys, storm drain and water quality systems, park and recreation facilities, water and wastewater systems, transportation projects, and planning programs and studies. The proposed CIP is available for public review at newportbeachca.gov/budget.
- A public hearing and potential adoption of an Environmental Impact Report (EIR) for a confined aquatic disposal (CAD) project in the lower Newport Harbor. The CAD is proposed as part of a harbor dredging project that will remove about 1 million cubic yards of sediment from the harbor floor to reestablish original navigation depths and improve harbor water quality. Most of the dredged material will be disposed of in the open ocean and used to replenish the Balboa Peninsula ocean beaches. Some of the dredge material (about 10%) is unsuitable for open ocean disposal because it contains small amounts of mercury. To dispose of the unsuitable material, the CAD project is proposed for the central portion of the lower Harbor between Bay Island, Harbor Island and Lido Isle. A CAD is constructed underwater by digging a hole and disposing of the initial material removed from the hole in the ocean, and then placing the non-open ocean quality bottom sediment back inside the hole. A cap of suitable material is then placed on top, creating a physical barrier between contaminants and the harbor waters. The EIR is available at this link on the City’s website. Click here for an FAQ document on the project.
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.
