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HomeMy WebLinkAbout00 - Insider's GuideOctober 10, 2017 Insider's Guide Subject: FW: Newport Beach Insider's Guide - Tuesday, October 10, 2017 A happy Friday to you. Here's what might be of interest to you that's on the agenda for the Newport Beach City Council meeting planned for Tuesday, October 10, 2017. 1 don't summarize every item, so make sure you look at the City Clerk's agenda page to read the whole agenda if you'd like. The study session begins at 4:00 p.m. with a couple of interesting items. • Debt Policies and Procedures. We have a formal policy on debt management (it's here), but Mayor Muldoon and others have asked that we take a new look at it, along with considering whether there should be additional procedures in place in case the City planned on issuing new debt such as Certificates of Participation (COPs). The goal of this study session is to have the Council provide some direction to the Finance Committee, and have the Finance Committee work on it for a bit. Then it would return to the Council for a more formal discussion and adoption. Recall that the Civic Center and Park project was funded with COPS back in 2010. COPS, unlike "general obligation" bonds, do not currently require approval by the voters. Another type of debt — a "revenue bond" — also doesn't require voter approval. An example of a revenue bond is debt to build a parking structure, or a water reservoir. In these cases, the debt is not a "general obligation" of the taxpayers but is funded from the proceeds from, say, parking or water rates. The Council could direct that these and other types of debt have greater visibility with the electorate and/or would go before the electorate for formal approval prior to the debt being incurred. • Drones. The PD will summarize the latest information on drone use and regulation — thus far, the City generally defaults to the FAA on local drone use. • Crosswalks on the Balboa Peninsula. Public Works has been formulating ideas (following some studies) about ways to improve pedestrian visibility at the many crosswalks and intersections along Balboa Boulevard and parts of Newport Boulevard. Our staff gave a presentation at Council Member Dixon's September Town Hall, and generally the ideas were welcomed. This will be a repeat of that presentation, this time for the whole City Council. Following closed session items, the evening's Regular Session will start at 7:00 p.m. Here are the items that may be of interest to you: • We'll ask to award a contract to improve the landscaping (currently it's a mustard weed-scape) along the right side of MacArthur Boulevard (assume you're driving towards the coast from Ford/Bonita Canyon but before San Joaquin Hills Road) — this project has been in design phase for a while, and is a fairly modest plan that would spruce it up just a bit. • Now that the Council has provided firm direction on how to cap and improve sea walks along Balboa Island, the contract award is up for consideration at this meeting. The low bid on this project (with contingencies and construction management) is about $1.7 million. When done, the project adds a 9" cap all along the sea walls of "big" Balboa Island (Little Island's sea walls are already at the right height). Even with the 9" cap, the sea wall will have a slightly different height when you compare the coast/south side to the north side. The north side is not subject to as much wave action when there is a storm, so it can stay a bit lower. Construction on this project will roll out pretty soon, as this contract award starts a short clock running — you can see the phasing of the project by reading the staff report here. Some community notes: • For you pickleball fans, the new courts are open. They're at the end of Old Ford Road, in the Bonita Canyon Sports Park. It was fun to see them open for business starting Friday. Though as I was walking to the ribbon cutting, I overheard a group of ladies wondering what pickleball was, and one said, "I think you have to be over 60 to play it." Very funny. Yet so untrue. I was able to politely explain that pickleball is fun for all ages. • For all of our John Wayne Airport issue watchers (and there are many of us), the FAA still seems to be planning on implementing a change to the HHERO departure pattern on Thursday, October 12. We will all be watching that day. • The NB Fire Department has its annual Open House on Sunday, October 8, from 11:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. at the Santa Ana Heights Fire Station. It's a great time to bring kids and grandkids to see the fire trucks, fire engines, and ambulances. Enjoy your weekend, and thank you for reading. Please forward this Guide 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 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. 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 Time Warner / Spectrum 3 and Cox Channel 852 or stream it 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.