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HomeMy WebLinkAbout03122024_Action Minutes_Harbor&Bay-Safety SubcomitteesAction Minutes: GPAC Harbor and Bay and Safety Subcommittees (Joint Meeting) Meeting Date: Tuesday, March 12, 2024, at 4 p.m. Location: Newport Beach Meeting Room at City Hall and Teams GPAC and GPUSC Members in Attendance: Amber Snider, Laird Hayes, Jeremy Evans, Nancy Gardner, Dennis Baker, Charles Klobe, Nancy Scarbrough, Ruth Kobayashi, Curtis Black, Jim Carlson, Jim Mosher, Phillip Brown City Staff in Attendance: Ben Zdeba, David Lee, Joselyn Perez, Jerry Arregui, Elizabeth Dickson (Consultant), Patrick Miskel (Consultant) Brief Discussion Recap and Action Minutes City staff initiated the meeting and provided the following basic objectives for the meeting: 1) to determine the Chairperson of the GPAC Harbor and Bay Subcommittee; 2) to determine the Chairperson of the GPAC Safety Subcommittee; 3) to provide feedback on what should be considered and explored through the outreach as it relates to the topic of resilience; and 4) to move the Resilience Existing Conditions and Background Report forward for GPAC consideration. Identifying the GPAC Harbor and Bay Subcommittee Chairperson After some discussion, GPAC Member Dennis Baker nominated GPAC Member Curtis Black. He accepted the nomination. ✓ Action: GPAC Member Black will serve as the Chair of the GPAC Harbor and Bay Subcommittee. Identifying the GPAC Safety Subcommittee Chairperson GPAC Member Nancy Scarbrough volunteered to serve as the Chair. ✓ Action: GPAC Member Scarbrough will serve as the Chair of the GPAC Safety Subcommittee. Feedback and Discussion on the Topic of Resilience Elizabeth, from Dudek, provided a presentation on the Resilience document subcommittee members were asked to review. She introduced Patrick Miskel who is a coastal engineer with Dudek and encouraged the Subcommittees to provide feedback on coastal hazards given the overarching relevancy between the Harbor and Bay Element and the Safety Element. Discussion ensued at various points throughout the presentation and the Subcommittee discussed the following highlights: Coastal Hazards and Resiliency • Subcommittee members (members) questioned whether beaches are part of the Harbor and Bay Element. Members recommended renaming this Element the “Beach, Harbor and Bay Element.” GPAC Harbor and Bay and Safety Subcommittees (Joint Meeting) Action Minutes for March 12, 2024 • With coastal hazards being a large topic of resiliency in Newport Beach, members are concerned about the continued erosion of beaches and bluffs throughout the city. In recent instances some homes have been lost due to landslides. Beach erosion is a large cost for the City. • It was suggested that a vulnerability assessment is necessary to determine the appropriate sequence of adaptation pathways 1for the community. The vulnerability assessment should include natural mitigations, prepared communities, engineered defenses, and adapted structures similar to the Virginia Beach Sea Level Wise Adaptation Strategy, which is provided as an example of a best practice in the resilience analysis. • There was a belief that a threshold reliant approach to adaptation with a focus on natural mitigation is more appropriate that only using infrastructural approaches for mitigation of coastal hazards. • It was mentioned that current practices for monitoring beach erosion is limited to images. Members recommended alternative sand erosion measurement to better understand how the beach is changing overtime regarding the width and height of the sand on the beaches. Possible opportunities include partnerships with UCSD for wave modeling and underwater mapping. • It was also acknowledged that coastal fiooding is a continued issue that requires a more organized approach across multiple property owners. There was a suggestion to consider the idea of forming assessment districts to pay for the raising of bulkheads at a communal level. Members discussed zoning issues related to raising bulkhead heights. Members noted the importance of hearing from residents of Balboa Island to understand what strategies they are considering and what their level of concern is. Members also noted a need for a comprehensive plan to ensure that the efforts of individual households do not exacerbate issues for neighbors. This comprehensive strategy would assist with implementing coordinated efforts. Members also noted the need to better model fiooding at Balboa Peninsula during king tides. • It was shared that the annual General Plan progress report largely focuses on housing. Members recommended the City emphasize review of progress on other elements on an annual or bi-annual basis. Members discussed the importance of General Plan implementation and identifying responsible parties and timelines to ensure that policy is carried out. For example, forming policies to task specify City Departments for mitigating coastal hazards. General Input • Members acknowledged that part of being a resilient community is being sustainable, which should include water conservation using drought tolerant plans and reclaimed water and energy efficiency through City government implementing electric or hybrid vehicle fieets, EV charging opportunities, expanded use of recycled water for irrigation of landscaping and implementation of a better waste collection program. Members noted challenges with households having access to EV charging without a garage. Vandalism and maintenance was also noted as a concern with charging stations. ✓ Action: Both the GPAC Harbor and Bay and Safety Subcommittees supported moving forward to share the Dudek report and these action minutes for the larger GPAC to consider moving forward at the March 20, 2024 meeting. 1 Adaptation Pathways is a strategy for adapting to future changes with a tiered approach, such as employing natural mitigation measures flrst and then stepping up to engineered structural mitigation measures (e.g., piles, groins, etc.).