Insider's Guide

Insider's Guide for the Newport Beach City Council Meeting of March 24, 2020

Our next City Council meeting is Tuesday, March 24.  Items that may be of interest are highlighted below.  The entire agenda, and all reports, can be viewed here.

There is no Study Session scheduled so the Regular Meeting begins at 7 p.m. and the following are items of note:

• On the Consent Calendar is a resolution adopting a list of projects for Fiscal Year 2020-21 Funded by SB 1, The Road Repair and Accountability Act of 2017.It is estimated the City will receive approximately $1.6 million dollars to help with a variety of pavement rehabilitation and reconstruction projects.This funding offsets the use of other City funding sources.
• The Water Wheel Project will provide for removal of trash in the Upper Newport Bay prior to the trash entering our bay.It is anticipated that the Water Wheel could remove between 25-50 tons of trash a year.City staff has worked hard to take this innovative approach to trash removal in our harbor.
• A Public Hearing was scheduled for an appeal of the Planning Commission’s approval of a project located at 215 Riverside Avenue.Staff is recommending that this item be continued to the April 14, 2020 City Council meeting.
• The City is also proposing to update a variety of fines and fees based on cost of service.The fee program reviews all departments every three to five years to ensure that the cost of service is appropriately recovered.

Due to the Governor’s order to stay at home, and to practice social distancing, the seating in the City Council chambers has been limited to provide adequate spacing.  The Community Room will also be open to the public with the appropriate spacing.  If you wish to comment, and cannot make it in person, the City strongly encourages you to send your comments via email to cityclerk@newportbeachca.gov by Monday, March 23 at 5 p.m.

Thank you for reading.  Feedback is appreciated so please don’t hesitate to ask a question or offer a comment. 

Grace K. Leung
City Manager, gleung@newportbeachca.gov

City Council Meeting Information

The Newport Beach City Council meets on the second and fourth Tuesdays of most months (the exceptions are August and December). Typically, there is a Study Session that starts at 4 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 p.m., and often has a specific listing of different items ready for formal votes. Items on the “Consent Calendar” are heard all 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. The City Manager also get's a copy of the email, because in almost all cases it’s something that the City Manager follows-up on.  

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. You are always welcome to attend in person, but you can also watch on TV, Spectrum channel 30 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 the City Manager. You are encouraged to read the full agenda if you wish.

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