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Home My WebLink About00 - Insider's GuideReceived After Agenda Printed May 12, 2015 Insider's Guide From: Kiff, Dave Sent: Thursday, May 07, 2015 7:49 PM Subject: Insider's Guide for the City Council meeting of Tuesday, May 12th, 2015 Happy Thursday evening to you. Here is the Insider's Guide for the Newport Beach City Council meeting of Tuesday, May 12th, 2015. The City Council meeting is held on the 2nd and 4th Tuesdays of most months. The Study Session (on the City's budget) is set for 4:00 p.m., and the regular session will start at 7:00 p.m. 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. Remember that I don't summarize every item on the Agenda — but to read the full agenda, click here: http: / /newportbeachca.gov /mod ules /ShowDocument.aspx ?docu mentid =4414 If you are so inclined, please weigh in on these issues by contacting the entire City Council with one email address — that's CityCouncil @newportbeachca.gov. I know that they appreciate hearing from you, especially about any agenda item. As noted, the Study Session starts at 4:00 p.m., and after a series of presentations, we'll talk about the proposed Fiscal Year 2015 -16 City budget. This will be the first of a handful of meetings about the budget, and Finance Director Dan Matusiewicz (aka Dan M for no particular reason) and I will try to give the Council and public a 30,000' look at the key issues and changes within the budget. Chief among those changes are two —the addition of four police staff to increase our presence on the Peninsula and (2) the opening of the Marina Park sailing center and community center to the public as planned for December 2015. Both of these actions add staff —a net of three persons when other deletions are taken into account. Much of the Marina Park cost is offset by program fees there, the concession from the new cafe, and more. Much of the cost of the new police officers are proposed to be offset by a small increase in parking rates (but no increase for residents' annual permits). Beyond that, the Budget is balanced, doesn't dip into reserves, and reflects several key initiatives — a faster paydown of pension obligations, continued investment in roads, parks and facilities, and hewing to a fairly conservative approach to salary and benefit changes and the like. You can read more about it by accessing the documents posted here - http : / /newportbeachca.gov /index.aspx ?page= 99 &recordid =4160. If you only have time to read one thing, I would read the 'Transmittal Letter" in the first few pages of the Performance Plan. The Transmittal Letter is where we summarize what's in the proposed budget at a depth somewhere between "Ohmigosh this is so boring and confusing" and the latest article in OK! magazine regarding Kim K, Bruce J, et al. Admittedly, its a little more towards the boring side than the OK! side. But give it a go, please. It will help you understand the City's complex operations. And here are the Regular Session /7:00 p.m. items of note: • For folks in the Hoag Hospital area, there is a proposal coming up from the Planning Commission to allow an increase in height (a "height overlay district') for certain residential properties in Statistical Area #2 (West Newport Mesa) that have multi - family zoning and are at least 1 -acre in size. Generally, the height could go up to 40' for a flat roof and 45' for sloped one. That's up from 28' for a flat roof and 33' for a sloped one in the current code. • Hold on to your galoshes ( ... Millennials will have to look that up...), but Water - Propelled Vessels are back. At the last meeting, there weren't four votes for any specific action. This is important because the City Charter requires four votes to change the Municipal Code - not three, and not a majority of those present. With that as a backdrop, on 4 -28, three Council members expressed a preference to see an ordinance change that would prohibit commercial jetpacks in the Harbor, but would allow them to operate offshore. At this upcoming meeting, that is certainly one option to consider, and we've presented it as a recommendation. But if that only gets three votes, then it doesn't carry the day. If nothing ever gets four votes, then the status quo prevails, which basically allows anyone to operate a jetpack in a commercial or non - commercial way in the Harbor, provided they get a permit to do so. We're hunkering down a bit more into drought mode, and asking the Council to consider declaring a Level 3 (meaning "It's getting bad! ") water supply shortage. This should help us get to the State's assigned 28% reduction in water use for our community. This means, generally, that folks will only be able to water outside (with sprinklers) two times a week between now and November, then one time a week in whatever passes for a rainy season. And, importantly, we will be asking that customers attempt to reduce their water usage to 75% of what you used a year ago. If you are a low or very low water user, and you will dry up and blow away if you have to do this, you can ask for relief from this percentage. You will want to do that, again if you feel like you're already there at a drought - friendly usage rate. You will want to go to this web page - http: / /newportbeachca.gov /index.aspx ?page =2419. I would also look at this next web page to make sure you have all of the information you need regarding dealing with the drought. We're all in this together. http : / /newportbeachca.gov /index.aspx ?page =2406. Lastly, remember that 2 weeks ago we were all really impressed with a talk here at the Civic Center about converting your yard to a more drought - friendly place? The video of that meeting is now available at this link: http: // newportbeach .granicus.com /MediaPlayer.php ?view id =45 &clip id =1969 • Lastly, Council Member Muldoon asked the Council to consider revisiting commercial marina rates, and Mayor Selich asked that the Council follow -up on a request from a resident of Cliffhaven to have the City purchase a residential lot off of Kings Place for a small park. The item on Tuesday is not to act on either of these issues, but to vote as to asking for more detailed staff reports about each. That's about it for interesting items on the agenda. There are a few interesting things going on OFF the agenda that I should make sure you know about: Remember that the California Coastal Commission's meeting here in Newport Beach is coming up June 10 -12, 2015. It's at the Civic Center, and several interesting local things will be on there, including Fire Rings and (hopefully) our proposed plan to address eelgrass in the harbor without killing the harbor's commerce. I think Eelgrass Day and Fire Ring day (if I say the latter too fast around City Hall, it sounds completely different and people run from me) is Thursday the 11`h, but don't quote me there. I'll keep you posted. Next, the OCSD Mariner's Mile project. One of our staff members who has to drive through there daily calls it "Mariner's Pile." Great. We have been working with the Sanitation District and its contractor to try to get this first significant phase done soon, as promised. But delays have caused them to ask for permission to work at night and on weekends to meet that goal. It's a tough balance for us — do we want the job done and out of there by summer or do we want to say no to their weekend requests and delay it so that it lasts towards July? So far, we've tended to OK the night and weekend work but do ask that you're notified, that they work as quietly as possible, and that they're always considerate of your downtime. If you need more information about the Project, contact constructionhotline @ocsd.com. The good news is that you'll see them lay down new pavement already and into the next few weeks in advance of pulling out of much of Mariner's Mile for the summer. As always, thanks for reading! Please feel free to forward this e -mail 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. I hope you have a nice Friday and a good weekend. Sincerely, Dave Kiff City Manager dkiff@ newportbeachca.gov