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Home My WebLink AboutS20 - General Dredging Permit UpdateITEM 520 TO: Members of the Newport Beach City Council FROM: Dave Kiff, Deputy City Manager Tony Melum, Deputy Fire and Marine Chief SUBJECT: General Dredging Permit Update RECOMMENDED (1) Direct staff to update all Harbor Permittees via letter; and ACTION(S): (2) Re- agendize another Update for City Council's April 25, 2000 meeting. SUMMARY: An update on the City's efforts to extend, renew, or replace a 10 -year "General Permit" that allows harbor permittees and the City within Newport Bay to dredge material from around their piers, floats and bulkheads. BACKGROUND: At the City Council's March 28, 2000 afternoon Study Session and evening Regular Meeting, the City Council discussed the California Coastal Commission's consideration of a renewable harbor -wide permit (the GeneralPermi4 that allows anyone with a pier, float, or bulkhead in Newport Bay (about 1,200 harbor permittees) to dredge the sediment near their facility without getting individual, specific permission from the California Coastal Commission or the US Army Corps of Engineers (US ACE). About 35 to 40 harbor permittees use the City's General Permit each year to dredge their facilities As we reported to the Council on March 28, we believe that the series of conditions applied by the Coastal Commission to a new Permit will be difficult or impossible for many harbor permittees and dredgers to meet. The conditions include: -- Conditions Proposedfor2000GenemlPemut- • Term. The proposed Permit has a 5 -year term, not a 10 -year term. • Eelgrass. No dredging may occur within 15' of eelgrass (zostera manna). • Disposal of Spoils Offshore. About 10% of all permittees dispose of their dredging spoils off the Newport Pier at the "LA -3" offshore disposal site. The Commission's proposed permit requires that any dredged material dumped at LA -3 be less than 80% sand. If the spoils proposed for offshore disposal are 80% sand or more, the Coastal Commission will prohibit an offshore disposal. NOTE: Contrary to the Coastal Commission's proposed condition, USEPA typically requires additional chemical teskng for total sulfides, poly nuclear aromatic hydrocarbon compounds, chlorinated pesticides, hea vy metals and organodns if spoils proposed for offshore disposal are less than 8ON sand. Newport Beach City Council Page 2 • Disposal of Spoils Onshore. For on -shore disposal, the sand content of the dredge material cannot differ more than 10% from the sand content of the beach. NOTE- Where the sand content ofthe beach is relwi vely pure (90 -100% sand), this requirement effecti vely prohibits extensive on shore disposal since the sand content of dredging spoils ranges from 30 -969. • ED Approval. The Executive Director of the Coastal Commission must individually approve each eelgrass survey and sand grain analysis associated with any dredging. . Studies. Four areas (UNB, south side of Lido Isle, south side of Balboa Island, Linda Isle), have been the excluded from the General Permit until further testing is done to include bio- assays. Bio -assay studies examine the impacts of dredging spoils on live entities and may take 3 -6 months to complete. NOTE- When the County of Orange completed a series ofbio- assays associated with the Upper Newport Bay dredging of 1998 -99 the cost for conducting bio-assays on 12 different samplings exceeded $400,000. UPDATE: Since the Council's March 28, 2000 meeting, City staff met with Larry Paul and Tom Rossmiller of the County of Orange to talk about how to proceed. We agreed initially to ask for an on -site meeting with Coastal Commission staff to show them some of the complexities associated with the proposed conditions. Coastal Commission staff has been more than willing to come to Newport Harbor to talk about the General Permit. We expect the meeting to occur between now and the first week of May. We also developed a letter which has been sent to all harbor permittees to update them directly on the General Permit renewal issues. A copy of this letter is attached in Attachment A. For the Council's information, we have included a timeline of the City's actions relating to the General Permit in Attachment B. AttachmentA April 10, 2000 Harbor Permittee Street Address Newport Beach, California 926XX RE: PIER DREDGING - STATUS OF GENERAL PERMIT Dear Permittee: As you may be aware, the City of Newport Beach previously asked for and received a "General Permit" that allows all residential harbor permittees and most commercial permittees to dredge material from around their piers and other facilities. That General Permit expired at the end of August 29, 1999. Prior to and since that time, the City has been working with the US Army Corps of Engineers and with the California Coastal Commission to get a new Permit. During the course of these negotiations, the Coastal Commission staff has asked that a series of conditions be applied to a new 5 -year General Permit. These conditions include: • A prohibition against dredging within 15' of eelgrass (zartem marina); • A prohibition against on -shore disposal of dredged material if the material's sand content is not within 10% of the sand content of the receiver beach. • An effective prohibition against off -shore disposal given an apparent conflict between the US Army Corps of Engineers' requirements and those proposed by the Commission (recall that local dredging companies typically dump dredged material about 4 miles off of the Newport Pier at a site called "LA -3 "); and • A prohibition against any dredging in four areas (all of Upper Newport Bay north of the PCH Bridge, much of the south sides of Lido Isle and Balboa Island, and all around Linda Isle) without the completion of bio- assays (bio-assays test the toxicity of dredged material on living entities). These bio- assays are often extremely expensive and can take three to six months to complete. As you receive this letter, we are attempting to work with the Coastal Commission staff to change some or all of these conditions so that we can have a meaningful, effective General Permit to allow you and your neighbors to continue to make full use of your property. So far, the Coastal Commission staff has been receptive towards meeting with us and learning more about our concerns. As the discussions progress, I will keep you informed of the City's actions. If you'd like direct updates via e-mail, please e-mail a note to Dave Kiff, the Deputy City Manager, at dkiff@city.newport- beach.ca - Dave will add you to our Update List. You can also call Dave (949 -644 -3002) or Tony Melum, the Deputy Fire and Marine Chief (949 - 6443044) with any questions you may have. Page 4 As we work towards a solution to our General Permit dilemma, you may want or need to get your pier or float area dredged more quickly than the City will be able to achieve a renewed General Permit. If so, you must file for an individual permit from the California Coastal Commission, the Army Corps of Engineers, and the California Regional Water Quality Control Board (Region 8 —Santa Ana). For information about individual permits, you may contact the Commission directly at the following mailing address, phone number, and website: California Coastal Commission South Coast Office 200 Oceangate, Wh Floor Long Beach, California 90802 (562) 590-5071 (phone) (562) 590 -5084 (fax) http://ceres.ca.gov/coastalcomm/web Finally, let me state that the City Council is fully committed to resolving this issue as quickly as possible to both assure boating safety in Newport Harbor and so that all Harbor Permit holders can make full use of their property and facilities. Thank you for your patience. Sincerely, Homer L. Bludau City Manager Page 5 Attachment B City of Newport Beach General Dredging Permit -- Timeline -- 10 -Year Permit Effective Date September 5, 1989 City contacts US Army Corps of Engineers for Renewal August 1997 of 1989 10 -year Permit City re- contacts US ACE for Permit Renewal August 1998 City and US ACE discuss Permit components August 1998 -July 1999 per US ACE's dredging oversight authority under Clean Water Act ( §404) Issues with US ACE Resolved, City files for July 1999 new 10 -Year Permit with California Coastal Commission City and Coastal Commission staff negotiate July 1999 — March 2000 issues regarding new 10 -year Permit 1989 10 -Year General Permit Expires August 29, 1999 all new dredging on hold in area within Permit Coastal Commission Hearing March 2000 City asks for Continuance March 2000 Next Coastal Commission Meeting April 2000 in Long Beach