By Grace Leung, Newport Beach City Manager
The next City Council meeting is Tuesday, September 12. Items of interest are highlighted below. The entire agenda and reports can be viewed here: https://newportbeachca.gov/Home/Components/Calendar/Event/71683/72.
The regular meeting will begin at 5 p.m. Agenda items include:
- A temporary agreement to allow the Orange County Sanitation District (OC San) to use Lower Castaways Park for a construction staging area. OC San will begin replacing and upgrading a critical part of Newport Beach’s wastewater infrastructure, the Bay Bridge Pump Station at 250 E. Coast Highway, beginning in June 2024. OC San has requested to use a portion of the City owned property Lower Castaways Park, 100 Dover Dr., for a staging yard during project construction.
- A resolution of intent to override the Orange County Airport Land Use Commission’s (ALUC) finding of inconsistency for Housing Element implementation noise-related amendments. This agenda item is the first of a two-step process that would override an ALUC decision related to the City of Newport Beach’s recently updated General Plan Housing Element. The ALUC determined that the City’s Housing Element was inconsistent with the John Wayne Airport’s land use plan. The City Council may overrule that decision by adopting a resolution of intent to override, followed by a second public hearing to adopt a resolution to override.
- Consideration of a non-exclusive, 4-year commercial solid waste franchise to Robert’s Waste & Recycling of Santa Ana. Newport Beach uses a non-exclusive commercial franchise system to manage commercial waste collection. This system allows the City to meet the waste collection needs of the business community while complying with State law.
- An appointment to fill an unscheduled vacancy on the Board of Library Trustees.
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.
