By Grace Leung, Newport Beach City Manager
Our next City Council meeting is Tuesday, January 11. Items that may be of interest are highlighted below. The entire agenda, and all reports, can be viewed here: https://www.newportbeachca.gov/Home/Components/Calendar/Event/68205/72.
4 p.m.: Closed Session.
5 p.m.: Regular Session. Items of note:
Consent Calendar:
- A resolution to create a steering committee to help oversee the development of the City’s General Plan Update. The committee will help shape the scope of the General Plan update, participate in the selection of a consultant and provide periodic reports to the City Council, among other tasks. The last comprehensive update to the General Plan was in 2006.
- A contract amendment with Burns & McDonnell Engineering Company, Inc., in the amount of $85,765, for services related to the Newport Bay trash wheel project. The goal of the trash wheel project is to capture a significant portion of floating trash and debris that now flows from the San Diego Creek into Newport Bay and the harbor. The device is modeled after the successful trash wheel installed in Baltimore’s Inner Harbor in 2015. It is a moored vessel that uses booms to collect trash and move it to a rotating trash wheel, where it is then transported to a conveyer belt and into a dumpster for collection and disposal. Construction of the trash wheel is expected to begin in late 2022 and be completed in Spring 2024.
- Amendments to the City’s municipal code related to the operation of residential group home sober-living facilities. The proposed amendments would standardize application requirements for group facilities and establish standard conditions of approval. The application requirements may include intake procedures, relapse policies and staff qualifications. Potential conditions of approval may include transportation responsibilities for residents upon program completion or eviction, facility inspections, and onsite Narcan requirements. The requirements would only apply to care facilities that fall under City land use authority (facilities that serve seven or more occupants). The City has no regulatory jurisdiction over residential care facilities that serve six or fewer occupants, which are permitted by the state.
Current Business:
- Council will consider a new, eight-year agreement with the City’s trash and recycling contractor, CR&R. The City’s residential waste collection program is being modified to meet recent changes in state law. Among other requirements, the new state law mandates that all cities implement organic waste recycling. This will require a three-cart, source-separated, collection program for solid waste, mixed recyclables, and organic waste recycling, which includes food waste and landscaping waste items. City staff is requesting Council approval of a Residential Solid Waste Collection & Recycling Contract with CR&R that reflects the new, State-mandated program components and consolidates two existing contracts into one (previously the Newport Coast area was serviced under a separate CR&R contract). The new contract will provide required organic waste collection and recycling cart services in addition to the mixed recyclable cart services for all residents, bringing the City’s refuse program into compliance with state mandates. The initial increase to the City’s waste collection and recycling costs will be about $2.9 million per year, partially offset by $1.3 million in additional recycling fees approved in March 2021. The net increase to the City’s General Fund will be about $1.5 million a year. As part of the proposed contract, CR&R will update its collection routes to provide greater efficiency, cost savings and safety, as well as reducing truck traffic and emissions. As a result, about 14,000 residences will have their collection days changed, beginning in February 2022. Residents affected by the changes will be notified by the City and CR&R in advance. For more information on organics recycling and Frequently Asked Questions, visit http://www.newportbeachca.gov/recycle.
- In a separate action, the Council will consider street sweeping route changes to align with the new trash and recycling collection routes. These changes will avoid conflicts, address parking conditions, and maintain street sweeping effectiveness. The areas affected are portions of the Balboa Peninsula and Corona del Mar. Staff is also recommending the establishment of parking restrictions for street sweeping purposes on a portion of Narcissus Avenue, and in the City’s industrial area on West 16th Street, Production Place, Monrovia Avenue and Babcock Street.
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 get’s 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.
