HomeMy WebLinkAbout18 - Dredging in Newport Harbor11
March 22,1999
Council Agenda
Item No 18
To: Mayor and Members of the City Council j
From: Timothy Riley, Fire and Marine Chief✓
Subject: Dredging in Newport Harbor
BACKGROUND
At the City Council meeting on February 8,1999, Councilman Noyes asked about the
feasibility of the City purchasing a dredge for such things as channel dredging projects
or dredging in other specific areas within the harbor. A pre- requisite to discussing
whether the City should purchase a dredge would be a review of the responsibility for
dredging within Lower Newport Bay.
The attached Exhibit #1 indicates the area of primary dredging responsibility for the
Army Corps of Engineers. Exhibit #2 indicates areas of primary responsibility for the
County of Orange and Exhibit #3 indicates those for the City of Newport Beach.
As is evident from the exhibits, the agency having the largest responsibility for Lower
Harbor Dredging is the Army Corps of Engineers. The Army Corps surveys their area
of responsibility once a year and those surveys are available to the City. The current
survey will be completed within the next two months and it is staff's proposal to
augment that survey to include the areas for which the City has responsibility.
The remaining areas of responsibility, within the Lower Bay, lie between the bulkhead
line and the pierhead line. This, by Council Policy, is the responsibility of the harbor
permittee (adjacent private property owner). Dredging is done here by the harbor
permittee through contracts with private dredging contractors.
Dredging within the navigational channels, as a result of the nature and volume of the
material, requires ocean disposal. This would necessitate not only the purchase of a
dredge (hydraulic or clamshell) but also a dump barge and tugboat.
Two harbors relatively close to Newport Beach that have their own dredging operations
are the City of Long Beach and the City of Santa Cruz. In their view, owning a
dredging operation is such an extremely expensive undertaking that it is only justified
when you are the primary agency with dredging responsibility. In their opinion the
costs are so high, ownership is a position of last resort. The City of Santa Barbara has
prepared plans to purchase a dredging operation but will put it into effect only if the
Army Corps of Engineers stops funding the dredging in their harbor, again as a
consequence of the expense.
March 22,1999
Council Agenda
Item No
The City currently owns a dredge that was purchased to maintain depth within its
reservoirs. It was designed for shallow water dredging. It could not be used for the
type of dredging necessary in the Lower Bay navigational channels.
RECOMMENDATIONS
Based on the above, rather than purchase the equipment to allow the City to do
dredging, the City should monitor and augment depth surveys regularly. Then, in
conjunction with the County of Orange, lobby the Army Corps of Engineers vigorously
to assure that they do timely projects in the lower 'harbor to maintain adequate
navigational depth. Those projects that are solely the City's, responsibility should be
budgeted for and contracted out as required.
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