By Grace Leung, Newport Beach City Manager
The next City Council meeting is Tuesday, April 25. Items of interest are highlighted below. The entire agenda and reports can be viewed here: https://newportbeachca.gov/Home/Components/Calendar/Event/71670/72.
A study session will begin at 4 p.m. Agenda items include:
- Potential development of a pilot program to allow homeowners’ associations with 50 or more members to install private security cameras within public rights-of-way. The study session will include a staff presentation and discussion.
The regular meeting will begin at 6 p.m. Agenda items include:
- Consideration of an updated lease agreement with the Boys and Girls Clubs of Central Orange Coast for the use of recreation facilities at Eastbluff Park, 2555 Vista del Oro. The non-profit organization is requesting a new, 30-year lease agreement to allow for continued use of recreation facilities that primarily serve students from Eastbluff Elementary School and Corona del Mar Middle School.
- The Council will consider lifting the City’s drought-related water restrictions following California’s record-setting rainfall this winter. Newport Beach enacted water use restrictions in June 2022 and November 2022 to comply with state mandates after a prolonged drought. Since then, California and Orange County have received record amounts of rainfall, which refilled major water reservoirs and raised groundwater levels. The City Council will consider a repeal of Resolution No. 2022-88, ending the Level Two water shortage.
- Conveyance and lease agreements that will allow the City to maintain and operate new public docks at Balboa Marina, near 201 E. Coast Highway. A conveyance agreement would allow The Irvine Company to transfer the public docks to the City, as part of a 2015 agreement to expand Balboa Marina. A proposed 45-year lease agreement with the County of Orange would approve the use of public tidelands property for a portion of the 12-slip, public dock area.
- A public hearing on a 2023-2024 spending plan for nearly $400,000 in Community Development Block Grants. The City receives federal funds each year to benefit those with low and moderate incomes, aid in the prevention of neighborhood deterioration, and meet other urgent community development needs due to natural disasters or other emergencies.
- The Council will consider a zoning amendment that would allow recreational facilities to be developed on a portion of the parking lot at the Orange County Transportation Authority (OCTA) transit facility at Avocado Avenue and San Joaquin Hills Road. The amendment would apply to Area 1 of the Newport Village Planned Community development plan, which includes the 2.43-acre Transit Center property. The City is considering a license agreement with OCTA to use part of the Transit Center parking lot to construct pickleball courts.
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: citycouncil@newportbeachca.gov. 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.
