HomeMy WebLinkAbout00 - Insider's GuideMarch 8, 2016
Insider's Guide
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combusted and many s’more opinions expressed. A little less than a year ago, we landed on a plan that complied
with the rule but required a lot of administration and oversight (“sorry, scouting group, you can burn this in this ring,
but not that in that ring…”). It’s a tolerable but expensive ($165,000 per year) long‐term program now. It is hard to
enforce and hard to keep people happy as we do so. But it likely does have some air quality benefits, and that’s
important too. The request before the Council asks if the City should send a letter to AQMD asking for a reset
button on the 2013 changes. If the AQMD Board approved that, the City would again have some leeway to move
the rings back to where they were before all of this started. They could all be wood, or some could be charcoal – the
latter decision (what goes where, what fuel) would have to come back to the City Council and then before the
Coastal Commission again.
Some notes:
Movie in the Park! This time, Minions at Channel Place Park in West Newport Beach on Friday, March 4th. This is a
changed location from the one originally scheduled at Sunset Ridge Park. Festivities start at 5:30 p.m., with the
movie starting at 6:15 p.m. Remember that gentlemen do not steal ladies’ crowns, folks.
The Dover Drive Car Pursuit. At the 3‐8 Council meeting after 7:00 p.m., Police Chief Jay Johnson will give a brief
report about what went on there, where a CHP pursuit ended in our town, resulting in the closure of Dover Drive for
a while as well as the subject of the pursuit scrambling off into Castaways Park. I’ve appreciated the comments of
those of you who noted how complicated this one was – it involved a family with two very young kids, their own dad
kidnapping them and their mom, lots of bystanders, fog that grounded the helicopter, and several jurisdictions (CHP,
Huntington Park Police, us, more).
Dog Beach! We sure got a lot of emails about the unofficial dog beach at the Santa Ana River mouth. The Parks,
Beaches, and Recreation Commission on Tuesday night voted 7‐0 not to enter into an agreement with the County to
have our PD’s animal control officers enforce the County’s rules there. Many people spoke at the meeting, almost
all in favor of trying to keep it as is. We staff members have conferred further, and we will be bringing a
recommendation to the City Council that would ask the County to allow that to be an off‐leash area, improve
signage and trash containers and doggie bags on the City’s side of the boundary, better delineate the boundary, and
ask the good Dog Beach lovers to form a volunteer group to help self‐police the beach (meaning peer‐pressure
compliance on dog waste, on dogs and dog owners that shouldn’t be in an off‐leash environment, and not letting
any off‐leash dogs onto City beaches where that’s not allowed). Stay tuned on this issue.
If anyone wants to, um, hound me in person about any of these items, you can find me in a favorite neighborhood
on Saturday, March 5th, at 1:00 p.m. for the Newport Shores Association’s annual meeting. I am told that Council
Member Tony Petros will be there, too, hanging out by the cookie table.
For those following the Coastal Commission’s consideration of the Banning Ranch proposal, that is now moved to
the May 2016 Coastal Commission meetings (they meet for three days each month). The meeting may be held here
in Newport Beach at City Hall or down in Dana Point.
OCMA’s Museum House Project. A bit of rumor control here. The Council has received a number of e‐mails about
this project, but there seems to be some confusion on the senders’ part (that’s OK – it’s a confusing process). First,
the project has not been approved – it’s barely even started through the process. And lots of public comments are
ahead. News stories recently were about public comments on just the Notice of Preparation (NOP)/Initial Study for
a Draft EIR (DEIR). The NOP is the earliest phase of the DEIR timeline. After the NOP’s comments come in, the DEIR
itself takes many months to prepare. Once prepared, the DEIR goes through its own public hearing process, finally
ending up before the City Council at another public hearing after a 30‐45 day public comment period. If you have
any questions at all about it, please click
here: http://newportbeachca.gov/Home/Components/News/News/5644/2720
As always, thanks for reading. Feel free to forward this e‐mail to family, friends and members of your HOA if you
represent one. I always like hearing from you, too, so please don’t hesitate to ask a question or offer a comment.
Sincerely,
Dave Kiff
City Manager
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dkiff@newportbeachca.gov
949‐644‐3001
City Council Meeting Information: The Newport Beach City Council meets on the 2nd and 4th Tuesdays of most months
(the exceptions are August and December). Typically, there is a Study Session that starts at 4:00 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 7:00 p.m., and often has a specific listing of 20‐40 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.
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 behind City Hall. You are always welcome to attend in
person, but you can also watch on TV (Channels 3/31) or 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 Dave. You are encouraged to read the full agenda if you’d like – to do so, click here:
https://newportbeach.legistar.com/Calendar.aspx