By Grace Leung, Newport Beach City Manager
Our next City Council meeting is Tuesday, June 8. Items that may be of interest are highlighted below. The entire agenda, and all reports, can be viewed at https://newportbeachca.gov/Home/Components/Calendar/Event/64224/72.
Study Session Meeting of the City Council at 4 p.m.:
- City staff will present a progress report on efforts to update the City of Newport Beach General Plan housing element. The housing element is being updated, after months of public meetings and community input, to meet a State mandate requiring Newport Beach to plan for the development of more than 4,800 housing units over the next eight years. The draft housing element update is available for public review at https://www.newportbeachca.gov/government/departments/community-development/planning-division/general-plan-codes-and-regulations/general-plan-update/housing-element-screencheck-draft-march-10-2020. The study session discussion will include affordable and market rate housing allocations in the draft housing element.
Regular Meeting of the City Council will begin at 6 p.m.:
- The Council will conduct a public hearing on the proposed fiscal year 2021-22 City operating budget and the 2022-27 Capital Improvement Program (CIP) budget. The operating budget totals $309.1 million and the capital budget totals $35.5 million in fiscal year 2021-22, with capital spending of
- $195.9 million proposed over the six-year CIP. The proposed budget limits additional expenditures as the City recovers from revenue losses during the COVID-19 pandemic. The budget proposes healthy reserve contributions and continues discretionary payments to further reduce future CalPERS pension obligations.
- Public hearing and consideration of a resolution to extend the emergency temporary use permits that allowed restaurants and other businesses to expand outdoor operations during the COVID-19 pandemic. The item would allow permitted restaurants and other commercial businesses to continue utilizing sidewalks, parking lots and other private and public property for outdoor dining and related uses through September 6, 2021 and apply for limited-term permits after that date as staff continues to develop potential code amendments to amend parking ratios for City Council consideration.
- Council will consider a resolution to disestablish the Newport Beach Restaurant Association Business Improvement District and set a public hearing on the matter for July 13, 2021. At its May 11 meeting, the City Council provided direction to staff to return with the resolution and a plan to distribute the organization’s assets. The recommendation before the Council would return the remaining assets to the district’s restaurant owners.
- A notice of contract completion for the latest phase of the Big Canyon Restoration Project. This phase removed hundreds of invasive trees and shrubs from the canyon and replaced them with a diverse array of native species to create a thriving, natural wildlife habitat. The $1.3 million contract amount is above original estimates because a large number of trees were found to be infested with an invasive beetle species. The infested trees and invasive species were removed and replaced with more than 10,000 native plants over a nearly 11-acre area of the Canyon. The work is part of a larger, ongoing restoration effort for the 60-acre nature park and largely funded by state funds secured by the Newport Bay Conservancy.
