HomeMy WebLinkAbout00 - Insider's GuideReceived After Agenda Printed
February 10, 2015
Insider's Guide
Brown, Leilani
From: Kiff, Dave
Sent: Friday, February 06, 2015 4:28 PM
Subject: Insider's Guide - City Council meeting of Tuesday, February 10, 2015
A good late Friday afternoon to you.
Here is the lnsider's Guide to the Newport Beach City Council meeting of Tuesday, February 10, 2015. The City Council
meeting is held on the 2"° and 4'h Tuesdays of most months, with study session starting this coming Tuesday afternoon
at 3:30 (a little earlier than usual) and the regular session at its usual 7:00 p.m. spot. The Council meets in the Council
Chambers at 100 Civic Center Drive.
There is plenty of parking - you are always welcome to attend! But you can also watch on TV (Channels 3/31) or on your
computer. I do not summarize every item on the Agenda —to read the full agenda, click here:
http: / /newportbeachca.gov /modules /ShowDocument.asi)x ?documentid =4414
You are always welcome to weigh in and contact the entire City Council with one email address — that's
CityCouncil @newportbeachca.gov. They appreciate hearing from you, especially about any agenda item.
After a few longer meetings, this one could be a bit shorter.
Study Session begins at 3:30 p.m. Two items are worth your review:
• For folks in the central part of the Balboa Peninsula (between the Piers), there is an update on a project that
would change the way that 15th Street looks. 15"' Street is where the American Legion is on the Bay side and
the small commercial area (with the Stuft Surfer) on the ocean side. As we work on the Marina Park Project, and
as 15th Street's pavement is pretty deteriorated, we've talked about landscaping and parking improvements
here. Please take some time to check out the proposed design and offer your comments if you desire.
• We will come back to the Council for a second time with Part 11 of our Utility Undergrounding 101 presentation
from 2 weeks ago. We had time to go through the presentation and take some questions, but not enough time
to propose action items. Some of the key issues will be petition thresholds, whether to do more of the work by
City staff, how to better assist fixed- income folks with the assessment payments, and how the City might "vote"
on City -owned parcels — sometimes that can tip the scales on whether a district is approved. Councils in the past
have been reluctant to adopt a formal policy of always voting no or always voting yes — it's been done on a case -
by -case basis. As I noted 2 weeks ago, if all of this is way confusing to you, and you live in an area that could be
undergrounded, please listen in. We also have a web page /portal on the issue — it's
here: http: //newportbeachca.goy /index.aspx ?page =1171
Evening Session — starts at 7:00 p.m. I'll highlight a few items:
• We'll start some of the design work on the new Fire Station — Library project in Corona de Mar. The "Fibrary"
concept tries to take advantage of the need to replace both the Fire Station and the branch Library at one time —
it allows us to save on design and construction costs, as well as to modernize and combine both buildings in a
way that aspects can work together. And our library staff can respond to a few fires, and our firefighters can
help do Kids Story Time. What could be better?
• There is an item on the agenda which we'll post as an "FYI" right now that sets forth updated regulations on
licensed massage therapists. State law recently changed (and changed back) in this regard, and cities can again
provide some regulation of licensed massage therapists. We've met with the therapist community previous to
this but it might be advantageous to have the proposed ordinance posted for two additional weeks to allow
folks to read and digest it some more. So this item will be on the agenda with a request to continue it for two
weeks, ensuring greater visibility of the ordinance itself.
• We've worked for months on a plan to better stripe Back Bay Drive along the upper bay — making it more clear
to cyclists and pedestrians and drivers as to safe routes. This striping plan has been reviewed by our traffic
engineers and some in the cycling community, and will start soon if Council approves the expenditure.
• Mayor pro Tern Dixon has asked her colleagues on the Council to consider directing staff to examine a zoning
overlay for the Balboa Peninsula that could add additional limits on commercial establishments open after
11:00 p.m. Currently (and generally), new operations as well as older ones that request additional hours are
directed to get an Operator's License that covers the later hours, but older operations that already are open past
11:00 p.m. do not have Operator's Licenses. This would be the first step in an extended process — the next step
would likely be a Study Session about concepts and ideas for the overlay district (open to the public, of course),
then it's off to the Planning Commission, etc.
• Two items relating to the Marina Park Project are up for action. One item closes out the marina construction
and site preparation part of the work (Bid Package #2 —this was done on time and under budget) and the
second item awards a contract for Bid Package #4 of the project — the construction of the physical docks in the
marina. Bids came in higher than the engineer's estimate for these docks, but the vendor submittals and
closeness of the bids leads us to believe that they remain good bids. The project overall remains on time and
under budget, even with a higher bid cost for the dock construction (it's a relatively small share of the overall
project). The major phase of the work — Bid Package #3 — is underway now, with the construction of the sailing
center, community center, and park. If you want to examine the overall budget and completed costs for this
project, a spreadsheet is attached to the staff report on each of these items.
• A follow -up to the Council's study session last time regarding residential pier rental rates and
methodology. The Council asked staff to review the rent levels last time as well as the footprint that is rented
out. Council's direction was to go to the lower end of two appraisals ($0.50 /SF versus $0.525/SF) as well as to
consider whether to remove the water inside a U- shaped dock from the permit area. Additionally, we are
bringing back revisions to the template permit associated with residential piers.
• Appeal procedures for zoning items. You've read in the papers where a State appellate court said that the City's
process whereby a Council member can "call up" a decision of the Planning Commission for review by the City
Council was wrong. There is an item on the agenda that would initiate a code amendment to change this
process to be more correct. Initiation of a code amendment is a procedural first step — it would go through the
Planning Commission and ultimately to the City Council some months from now. This action results from the
Wood's Wharf decision, but does not apply to Woody's Wharf now.
Other Notes:
o This was a week with three evening meetings for me. Not a big deal in itself. But I was struck by one thing at
two of the meetings— we had good turnouts for each meeting, but a lot of people in attendance had not been
previously aware of some important neighborhood efforts, like the proposed Balboa Village residential parking
permit program and a new parking lot planned for the corner of Newport Boulevard and 32nd Street. Both of
these projects have been around for some time and have even been aired at prior public meetings. Still, a lot of
people were genuinely surprised. That's not a good thing.
There are some things we can and should do to help fix this — like extend our noticing range from 300' to 500' or
1,000'. We can also work to make sure those notices and our other communication pieces catch your eye. After
some reflection, we're going to work on these two things:
• Slowdown and give you time. This means we extend our project timelines and/or meet with you at
times that are convenient to you.
• Convey more loudly and clearly "Hey! This could impact you or your home or business!" "We think you
should care!" You can choose to ignore us of course, but at least you will be aware of what we're up to.
If you have other ideas as to how we can help get you information without pestering you, I'll all ears.
Speaking of community feedback, please still take some time to look at our fire ring options and weigh in on
Connect Newport. http: / /www.connLctnewportbeach.com /. You'll have an extra two weeks to do this (see?
Even I can learn...), as the timing there will be extended to February 28th.
For folks who reside within the Coastal Zone in Corona del Mar, please think about attending the February 11th
meeting at 7:100 p.m. at OASIS about the proposed Local Coastal Program. For more information, you'll want
to look here - http: / /newportbeachca.gov /index.aspx ?page =2450 . Another meeting for folks on the Peninsula
will be held a week later, on February 18th, at 7:00 p.m. at the Old City Hall (3300 Newport Boulevard).
As always, thanks for reading. If you have any questions about this Guide, the Council's agenda, or any other City issue,
please ask. I always appreciate it if you pass this along to others in town who might get value from it, especially if you
represent an HOA or community association. If you would rather not receive this e -mail, contact me with a return email
and I'll take you off the list.
Sincerely,
Dave Kiff
City Manager
949 - 644 -3001