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Home My WebLink About00 - Insider's GuideInsider's Guide Brown, Leilani September 23, 2014 From: Kiff, Dave Sent: Friday, September 19, 2014 2:33 PM Subject: Insider's Guide to the City Council meeting of September 23, 2014 Happy Friday! Here are some of the issues coming up at the Newport Beach City Council meeting to be held on Tuesday, September 23'a, 2014. Meetings are held at 100 Civic Center Drive, this time starting at 5:00 p.m. for the Study Session and 7:00 p.m. for the regular session. You can visit in person, watch on TV, or view it on your computer. I don't summarize every item — but you can see the full agenda here: http: / /newportbeachca.gov /mod u les /ShowDocu ment.aspx ?docu me ntid =4414 Before I start, a nice bit of positive news. September is "the" month for finalizing the extension and amendment of the "settlement agreement" that keeps John Wayne Airport neighborhood - friendly. You haven't heard much about it, because it's going well, but I can't overemphasize how important this is. Without the Settlement Agreement, the County could move to amend the curfew - and the passenger caps could be removed as well. Our city, along with two local groups — Stop Polluting our Newport and the Airport Working Group — has worked to continue the agreement into the next generation (with some changes — generally, Federal law says that we cannot further restrict capacity). Orange County Supervisor John Moorlach — with just a few months left on his term - has been an important supporter of the amendment and extension. The proposed extension protects the curfew through 2035, but it does allow for more passengers up to 12.2 or 12.5 million per year by 2026 (today, JWA is handling about 9.3 -9.41M passengers /year). We are now through several hurdles. Just this week, the Orange County Airport Commission recommended approval, and previously the OC Planning Commission did so. We've been working, too, to wrangle our airport "Corridor Cities" into writing letters of support - already chimed in are Costa Mesa, Laguna Beach, Villa Park, and Tustin. The OC Board of Supervisors received a nice letter in support of our position from both Santa Ana and Laguna Woods this week. The next big step is set for Tuesday, September 301h , as the OC Board of Supervisors considers the item. My sincere thanks to our hard - working negotiating team — Mayor Rush Hill, Council Member Keith Curry, and Council Member Leslie Daigle, along with our good friends from SPON and AWG — they've been at work at this for nearly 3 years! But back to the Council meeting.... The 5:00 p.m. Study Session consists of two items — an update for the Council on our two big park projects that are underway now and a briefing regarding pension liability and debt. We'll talk about the nearly - complete Sunset Ridge Park (corner of Coast Highway and Superior) and the "in mid - stream" Marina Park project (bay side of Balboa Boulevard between about 16th Street and 1g -19th Street). Both projects are humming along quite well, with an anticipated completion date two months from now (!) for the Sunset Ridge project. The pension liability and debt update will include a couple of focused papers we've completed in recent months. The first one, on pensions, is on our website and also attached to a staff report relating to a report of the Orange County Grand Jury. We'll have one on debt as well as Tuesday arrives. As with any issue, one's inherent fiscal philosophy can affect how we view issues like municipal debt and pension programs. I have my own biases. But I've found the City's approach to each to be quite thoughtful — tackling pension liabilities in a determined way (in April 2013, the Council adopted an aggressive plan to retire the liability earlier and save about $113 million in interest costs) and keeping debt service here at about 4.7% of general fund revenues. 4.7% is well below what rating agencies say is a conservative debt level, and they have reaffirmed our AAA issuer credit rating. Anyway, you've heard me spout off on this before so I'll stop and move on. 7:00 p.m. Regular Session. The night session is a bit on the brief side, except for one item: • On a unanimous vote at the last meeting, the Council approved the Lido House Hotel, so that is moving along towards the Coastal Commission. There is one follow -up meeting on this agenda that is second reading of a required ordinance relating to the site's zoning. The second reading is on the consent calendar. The new ground lease is now signed, with Bob Olson and Mayor Hill doing so at the old city hall site this past Monday. • We're asking the Council to move forward formally with a contract to help design the interior space for the former Balboa Theater, in this case turning it into a site for cultural and fine arts. This is a small contract with architect Bob Coffee, but it allows the Council to weigh in with a formal vote on the fine arts center concept. • The amazing Newport Beach Library Foundation comes through with another $224,000 for Library programs and equipment. We are so lucky to have the Foundation and the Friends of the Newport Beach library (equally amazing as they raise similar sums, $1 at a time) supporting an already great library system. Thank you, Foundation and Friends! • Mayor Hill asked at the last meeting to follow -up on recent requests to name a program or facility after Newport Beach Lifeguard Ben Carlson, so we'll seek out some additional input there. • Council Member Gardner asked that we examine laws and regulations relating to longer -term residential vacation stays (over a week but less than a month), as we're seeing a few of these come into neighborhoods. In some cases, they can fit in well. In other cases, when we're all back to work and back to school but the house next door is bubbling with late night vacation fun, things don't fit that nicely. Recall that our codes prohibit the issuance of new short -term lodging permits in most residential zones — older permits are grandfathered in, but no new ones can be issued (generally). • Public Hearing #1 is actually postponed —that one was going to be about A -Frame signs in business districts, with a focus on CdM. But we had a noticing problem here, so the public hearing will move to a future meeting. • Public Hearing #2 relates to the Port Theater, a "Landmark Theater" in CdM. The Port has asked that they be allowed to serve alcohol on both the floor and mezzanine levels even where persons under 21 might be present. They have also asked to be able to serve alcohol until 1:00 a.m. daily. Currently, service is limited to 11:00 p.m. and to the mezzanine level — not the floor level — except for special events where everyone on premises is over 21. The Planning Commission approved the Port's request on a 4 -2 vote. Council Member Gardner appealed the Commission's approval, writing that she was "concerned about the extended liquor hours" and wanted the Council to "have the opportunity to review them for suitability." The Port believes that their Commission - approved request puts them on an even playing field with the alcohol service offered at the Island Theaters in Fashion Island. • Finally, all cities in Orange County are asked to respond to the Orange County Grand Jury's June 2014 report about transparency of pension liabilities. The Grand Jury hoped that cities could be clearer about where folks could find pension information, how the budgets addressed liabilities, and more. I typically have tried to address pension issues in residential newsletters mailed to you as well as the budget transmittal letters. More information is in what's called our Consolidated Annual Financial Report (CAFR), which is also on our website. But CAFRs are a bit of a slog to get through. Our unfunded liability was estimated to be $255M as of June 30, 2014, which is a $20M improvement in just two years. The Council's plan pays the remainder off in 21 years (non - public safety employees) and 25 years (for public safety employees). Employees will make a record $7.4M in payroll contributions this year towards pension costs. To peruse the Budget and the transmittal letters, start at the first page of our website —www.newportbeachca.eov- it's right there to the right. The production of our budget is a bit limited for a year or two more by an old software system that we're in the process of swapping out. My community newsletters are all online, too, under "Departments" then "City Manager." If you want to weigh in to the City Council on these issues or any issue, use this e-mail address: CityCouncil (a)newportbeachca.gov. All seven of the City Council members will receive your comments that way. Some fun calendar notes for the coming days— there is a LOT going on! • Tomorrow is Coastal Clean -Up Day, which includes locations all across the region, including the Upper Newport Bay and Crystal Cove State Park. For more information about a clean -up event near you, look here: http: / /ocparks.com /civicax/ filebank /blobdload.aspx ?BloblD= 36493. To provide a safe environment for volunteers, please know that much of Back Bay Drive will be closed to pedestrians, bike and vehicular traffic on Saturday between 9:00 a.m. and 12:00 p.m. • This weekend is the first Newport Beach Wine and Food Festival, held at the Civic Center. They're setting it up now as I write this, and it's a big deal. For more information, click here - https: / /newportwineandfood.com. The Civic Center Green will be closed for this ticketed event, but the Central Library and the rest of the park will of course be open and accessible. Given cooler weather, come by and see the park sculptures. • The second annual "Hootenanny in the Heights' is Sunday the 24th at Cliff Drive Park in Newport Heights (yee- haw). Council Member Petros started this last year, and we had a fun time with games, good food, and lots of opportunities to meet the neighbors. This year, we'll celebrate the completion of the Cliff Drive Park renovation — I think we added something like 7,000 new plants (full disclosure - we removed some, too). The Hootenanny will be held between 11:30 a.m. and 2:00 p.m. Even if you aren't a Newport Heights resident, come by and say hi, please. • Next Monday, September 29th at 6:30 p.m. at OASIS is a community workshop on the proposed Arts and Cultural Master Plan. The plan proposes what role arts and cultural activities should play in the community, with your input. You can RSVP here - https:// www. surveymonkey .com /s /NBArtsandCuIture Finally, the Sanitation District's work on Coast Highway through Mariner's Mile continues. For regular construction updates, your source is http: // www. newportbeachca .gov /index.aspx ?page =2410 . If you don't get satisfaction there, please call us. We're trying to make this as smooth as possible. Thanks for reading the Insider's Guide. As always, please pass along any questions or concerns you have about these issues or any city issue to me by return e-mail or phone call. Also, please forward this information to others if you represent a community association or HOA - I appreciate it. Sincerely, Dave Kiff City Manager dkiff @newportbeachca.gov or 949 - 644 -3001