HomeMy WebLinkAbout2004-12 - Upper Newport Bay Ecosystem Restoration• RESOLUTION 2004- 12
A RESOLUTION OF THE CITY COUNCIL
OF THE CITY OF NEWPORT BEACH
CALLING FOR FEDERAL FUNDING FOR THE UPPER NEWPORT BAY
ECOSYSTEM RESTORATION PROJECT
WHEREAS, Newport Bay is a vital and important ecological and recreational
resource to Southern California; and
WHEREAS, Newport Bay is home to at least six federally endangered species,
including the California Least Tern, the California Brown Pelican, and the Lightfooted
Clapper Rail; and
WHEREAS, Newport Bay is listed as an impaired water body under Section 303(d)
of the federal Clean Water Act; and
WHEREAS, the Bay's impairments include sediment, nutrients, fecal coliform
bacteria, and toxic materials; and
• WHEREAS, the City of Newport Beach is an active participant in the Watershed
Executive Committee and the Watershed Management Committee, two entities which
collectively manage and administer plans called Total Maximum Daily Loads ( "TMDLs")
which are intended to eliminate these impairments; and
WHEREAS, committee membership includes all of the stakeholders and funding
partners within the 154 - square mile watershed ( "Watershed Partners') that drains into
the Bay, including the County of Orange, the California Department of Fish and Game,
the California Regional Water Quality Control Board, Santa Ana Region, the Irvine
Ranch Water District, and the cities of Newport Beach, Costa Mesa, Irvine, Tustin,
Santa Ana, Orange and Lake Forest; and
WHEREAS, the Sediment TMDL directs the Watershed Partners to remove the
Bay's sediment on a scheduled basis such that significant dredging events occur not
more than once every 21 years - doing so ensures the long -term stability of the Bay and
keeps this important estuary from becoming marshland; and
WHEREAS, the $38 million Upper Newport Bay Ecosystem Restoration Project (the
"Project "), led by the US Army Corps of Engineers in cooperation with the Watershed
Partners, has been in its planning stages since the late 1980s and is now ready for
construction: and
• WHEREAS, the Watershed Partners have secured $13.5 million in funding via
Proposition 12 and the State Coastal Conservancy, thus meeting the 35% state /local
match required of any US Army Corps construction project; and
• WHEREAS, the Federal share of the Project is roughly $24.5 million, but recent
budgets introduced by the Administration have not contained any funding for the Project,
thus requiring Members of Congress to add funding to the Energy and Water
Development Appropriations Acts for the Project; and
WHEREAS, US Representative Chris Cox and US Senators Barbara Boxer and
Dianne Feinstein have in the past successfully advocated on the Project's behalf as it
has gone through its reconnaissance and feasibility phases; and
WHEREAS, in addition to securing the local match for the Project, the City and the
Regional Board have cooperatively established a long -term funding source for future
Bay dredging projects called the Robinson - Skinner Annuity which contains more than
$3.8 million; now, therefore be it
RESOLVED by the City Council of the City of Newport Beach that it hereby
strongly urges the US Congress to support the nationally- significant ecosystem within
Upper Newport Bay in Orange County, California by providing full funding for the US
Army Corps -led Upper Newport Bay Ecosystem Restoration Project within the FY '05,
FY '06, and FY '07 Federal Budgets; and be it also
RESOLVED by the City Council of the City of Newport Beach that it hereby
respectfully requests Congressman Chris Cox and Senators Boxer and Feinstein to
• advocate for this Project on the state's behalf within the federal appropriations process;
and be it also
RESOLVED by the City Council of the City of Newport Beach that it hereby directs
this Resolution to be distributed to Congressman Cox, the remainder of the Orange
County Congressional Delegation, US Senators Barbara Boxer and Dianne Feinstein,
and the members of the Watershed Executive Committee.
ADOPTED this 10th Day of February, 2004.
TOD W. RIDGEWAItl
Mayor
ATTEST:
l it it e5 71Z
71Z
O
LA ONNE HARKLESS'
City Clerk ®: •;:;,
• STATE OF CALIFORNIA }
COUNTY OF ORANGE } ss.
CITY OF NEWPORT BEACH }
I, LaVonne M. Harkless, City Clerk of the City of Newport Beach, California, do
hereby certify that the whole number of members of the City Council is seven; that the foregoing
resolution, being Resolution No. 2004 -12 was duly and regularly introduced before and adopted by
the City Council of said City at a regular meeting of said Council, duly and regularly held on the
10th day of February, 2004, and that the same was so passed and adopted by the following vote, to
wit:
Ayes: Heffernan, Rosansky, Adams, Bromberg, Webb, Nichols, Mayor Ridgeway
Noes: None
Absent: None
Abstain: None
• IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto subscribed my name and affixed the
official seal of said City this 11th day of February, 2004.
(Seal)
•
City Clerk
Newport Beach, California