By Grace Leung, Newport Beach City Manager
The next Newport Beach City Council meeting is Tuesday, Oct. 22. Items of interest are highlighted below. The entire agenda and reports can be viewed here: https://newportbeachca.gov/Home/Components/Calendar/Event/73663/72.
The regular session will begin at 4 p.m. Agenda items include:
- Year-end budget results and surplus allocation. The City’s Finance Department will present a report on revenues, expenditures and estimated fund balances for the fourth quarter of Fiscal Year 2023-24 and an analysis of the City’s financial activity from July 2023 through June 2024. An unrestricted General Fund operating surplus of $10.8 million is projected for FY 2023-24, $1.9 million higher than previously projected. Staff is recommending that the surplus be allocated to infrastructure projects or neighborhood capital improvements.
- Review of Visit Newport Beach (VNB) audited financial statements and expenditure report for Fiscal Year 2023-24. Under the City’s agreement with VNB, audited financial statements and compliance expenditure reports are presented annually for review by the City Council. Due to the significant fees paid to Newport Beach & Company by VNB for services, Newport Beach & Company’s audited financial statements are also included for review.
- A public hearing and consideration of an amendment to Title 21 (Local Coastal Program Implementation Plan) of the Newport Beach Municipal Code relating
- to accessory dwelling unit (ADU) regulations. The item would accept and incorporate modifications suggested by the California Coastal Commission in July to a City ordinance that was adopted by the City Council in 2023.
- A resolution related to the replacement of Collins Island Bridge. The action would approve a mitigated negative declaration and intent to prepare final construction documents. The project includes replacing the Collins Island Bridge and constructing new seawalls adjacent to the bridge. The Collins Island Bridge, built in 1953, is still serviceable but is approaching the end of its useful life. The proposed replacement bridge would be 31-feet long and 20.5 feet wide with a 13.75-foot travel lane, 4-foot-wide sidewalk, and concrete barriers on each side of the roadway. Park Avenue from Bay Front Alley would be improved along with the roadway transition onto Collins Island.
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.
