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Home My WebLink About00 - Insider's GuideJuly 26, 2016 Insider's Guide From: Kiff, Dave Sent: Friday, July 22, 2016 1:57 PM Subject: Insider's Guide for Tuesday, July 26, 2016 A happy and too -warm Friday afternoon to you. Here's what's on the agenda for the Newport Beach City Council meeting of Tuesday, July 26, 2016. More detailed Council meeting information is at the end of this e-mail, and here is a link to the full Council agenda don't summarize every item on the agenda. With no afternoon study session, the Council meeting begins at 6:00 p.m. for Closed Session matters. The regular session will begin at 7:00 p.m. for folks who want to tune in or come see us in person. At the evening meeting, these agenda items pop out at me that might have some community interest (versus more mundane city business stuff): • The Fire Department will give a brief presentation about how fires are fought on ocean piers. Mayor Dixon asked us to help educate the Council and community about this issue following the fire on the pier in Seal Beach. • There is a large residential project planned for the Airport Area (no, not 150 Newport Center Drive or the Museum House building — those are not at the Council level) called "the Residences at Newport Place." The Planning Commission recommended denial of the project as presented, and the applicant appealed to the City Council. The applicant then submitted modifications to the initial plan, and our staff believes that the Project should be referred back to the Planning Commission versus being heard as an appeal. My guess is that the Council will agree and will send it back to the Commission for further review. • I've written before about a small change to the Coastal Land Use Plan and the General Plan involving the Lido House Hotel (at the old City Hall site — 3300 Newport Boulevard). The hotel developer has asked for about 4,700 more square feet of non -hotel room space, including lobby, retail, and office areas. The Coastal Commission already approved the project, but the Commission will also have to review and approve these small changes to the CLUP if the Council agrees to them. • The City Council heard a presentation from our staff about three months ago about how to deal with another Coastal land use issue — one that included Notices of Violation from the Coastal Commission's enforcement unit. These involve private improvements on the beachfront at Balboa Peninsula Point. The Council directed staff to come back with a proposed encroachment permit plan, similar to that in West Newport along the ocean front, that might make some of the private improvements permitted but would direct the removal of any encroachment beyond 15' of the residents' property lines. If the Council approves this, it too will have to go before the Coastal Commission before or if it becomes a real program. • Our annual update to fees comes before the City Council. We don't update all the fees all at once, but we do go through a fairly rigorous process (involving a consultant specializing in cost analysis) that includes a review of all of the proposed changes by the City's Finance Committee. • The last item is regarding a proposed ballot measure that would require a 2/3rd, vote of the City Council before placing a tax measure before the voters. Right now, a majority of the Council could decide to place a tax measure before the voters and the tax itself would require between 50%+1 and 66.67% (depending on the type of tax) voter approval by the electorate. At this meeting, the Council will have to decide whether to: (1) place the matter on the November 2016 ballot or the November 2018 ballot and/or (2) to notify the OC Registrar of Voters that a ballot measure may or may not be coming for November 2016. The deadline to tell the Registrar is about August 12. Right now, a previous Council Resolution in 2015 suggests that a measure WOULD be coming to the November 2016 ballot. Yes, this is confusing. Some notes: The Citizens' Aviation Committee meets Monday, June 25th at 4:00 p.m. for its quarterly meeting. We'll hear from JWA staff about a recent review of plane altitudes at various points on the departure path. The Committee meets in the Civic Center Community Room. Several Candidate Forums for City Council elections are coming up, including one on Monday evening, July 25th. Some are Q&A sessions, and one (Women in Newport Networking) is an open house. To see details and the full list (at least the ones we know about), click here. Thanks to our City Arts Commission, Concerts on the Green for 2016 start next Sunday evening, July 31. All concerts are held at the Civic Green here at the Civic Center. Upcoming events are: o Hollywood Stones, Sunday, July 31, 6-7:30 p.m. o Newport Beach and Pacific Symphony's "Symphony in the Cities" - Sunday, August 14, 5:30-8:30 p.m. (with musical activities for children at 5:30 p.m. and concert beginning at 7 p.m.) o A Fleetwood Mac cover band — "Rumours" - Sunday, August 21, 6-7:30 p.m.; and o The Springsteen Experience, Sunday, September 11, 6-7:30 p.m. 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 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 Xlli 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. Please know that I get a copy of that e-mail, too, because in almost all cases it's something that the City Manager follows -up on. It's my head -start. 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. I encourage you to read the full agenda if you wish.