HomeMy WebLinkAbout00 - Insider's GuideApril 24, 2018
Insider's Guide
Subject: Newport Beach Insider's Guide - Council Meeting of Tuesday, April 24, 2018
A Happy Friday to you. The Guide is green today in honor of 2018 Earth Day (Sunday, April 22, 2018).
Here is a summary of what's on the agenda of the next City Council meeting (set for Tuesday, April 24th). In
the below e-mail, I try to summarize items that caught my attention. I don't summarize the whole agenda,
though. To see that, please click here.
Study Session begins pretty early at 3:30 p.m., with the Regular Session convening at 7:00 p.m. More
information about where the Council meets and public comment opportunities are at the bottom of this
email.
At the Study Session, we'll talk to the Council about concepts to reduce parking problems in residential areas
that are heavily impacted by construction vehicles. As folks know, in several parts of the community it seems
like everyone is remodeling something. All of those workers need to park somewhere, and that somewhere
includes perfectly legal parking on public streets. Run the street sweeper by, and the problems get
worse. Compounding that, the most typical areas for remodeling seem to be our older areas (CdM, Balboa
Peninsula, Balboa Island, Lido Isle, and others) that can also have narrower streets with more limited parking.
The Regular Session at 7:00 p.m. has these items that caught my attention:
An item that may bring a loud cheer from West Newport Beach and Newport Shores: We're finally OK-ing
the contract for landscaping improvements along Coast Highway on that side of town (between Newport
Boulevard and the Santa Ana River). While this project will be bitten off in pieces, this is the first bite of
that. Residents there (shout out to George and Gina Lesley O) have been waiting a long time. This Phase
1 will go from Highland to a bit east of 611t Street (past Cappy's). How exciting.
A minor item (a Notice of Completion) marks the conclusion of a project that improved the landscaping
along MacArthur (the slope on the western side of MacArthur near Big Canyon). As I drive by, I like the
look of the landscaping although the plants seem pretty small right now. It's quite an improvement on the
mustard weed and brush that usually populates that slope.
I've asked the Council to consider steps forward on the concept of a Port Master Plan (PMP), now that the
California Coastal Commission has voted to formally oppose our legislation which would have allowed us
to submit a PMP to the Commission (AB 1196, Harper). Various options could include moving forward
until at least the first bill hearing in June, considering other alternatives already in the Coastal Act that may
secure something similar to a PMP without new legislation (as the Commission in part suggested), or
dropping the effort altogether.
• Council may decide on a firm to conduct the recruitment for the next city manager. There is a closed
session item about this, too.
A few notes for your calendar:
• The next Women in Newport Networking forum will be held on Monday, April 23 from 5:30 p.m. to 7 p.m.
in the Community Room, 100 Civic Center Drive. All City boards, commissions and committees, and
several City support groups, will have members present to offer information about what each group does
and member responsibilities. The event is free and open to the public. Visit
www.newportbeachca.gov/winn for more information. Attendees should RSVP here:
http://apps.newportbeachca.gov/events/winn.
• The CdMRA's annual town meeting is this coming Wednesday, April 25th at Sherman Library and
Gardens. The event is from 5:00 p.m. to 7:45 p.m., with an expo at the beginning and a program (starting
at 6:45 p.m.) closing it out. More information is here.
• The Newport Beach Film Festival runs April 26 -May 3. The festival will include more than 350 films from
50 countries and offer more than two dozen special events, including free filmmaking seminars on April 28
and 29. The festival brings visitors to town, but a lot of Newport Beach residents and businesses help to
put it on each year. www.newportbeachfilmfest.com.
• City Clerk will host a free, brown bag lunch and workshop to assist residents in applying to serve on a City
board or commission on Friday, May 4, from 12 p.m. to 1 p.m. in the Community Room, 100 Civic Center
Drive. For more information and to RSVP, 949-644-3005 or email
cityclerk@newportbeachca.gov. Important note: The City will accept applications through May 9 at 12
p.m. for about a dozen board and commission seats that are eligible for appointment on July 1.
• This is a bit off in the future, but mark your calendars for another free document shredding day. The City
and CR&R Environmental Services will offer free document shredding for CR&R's Newport Beach
customers on Saturday, May 12, from 8 a.m. to 12 p.m. at the Big Canyon Reservoir Parking Lot, 3300
Pacific View Drive (near the intersection of Marguerite & Pacific View), Corona del Mar.
In closing today, I wanted to offer two items of congratulations — one to Reverend Cindy Voorhees and her
parishioners at St James Church, for being back in their sanctuary after too long a time and working so hard to
save St James. I have a special affinity for this group because they've had to use city facilities (including parks)
to stick together during their time without a building. They always paid the market rate, but we're happy to
see them back home. Also congratulations to Bob Olson — in the same neighborhood as St James — who
opened the new Lido House Hotel this past week, exactly five years from the day that he (Bob) won a
challenging RFP competition set forth by the City. Bob "wow -ed" everyone with his proposal at the time — it's
now up and running in real time at the "old" city hall site, and it's even more amazing than I had thought it
would be. Congratulations, Bob. Congratulations, Rev. Cindy. Here's to a long, prosperous future for you
both.
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
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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.
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