Op/Ed: A Productive Year in Review
By Guest Contributor Lauren Kleiman, Newport Beach City Council Member – January 04, 2024
Source: Newport Beach Independent – https://www.newportbeachindy.com/op-ed-a-productive-year-in-review/
2023 was a busy and productive year for the City of Newport Beach, thanks to strong leadership and our extremely professional staff.
We have been working diligently to increase public safety, address quality-of-life issues, and make strategic investments to further improve our great city.
Lauren Kleiman Newport Beach City Council Member
Here’s a look at some of our 2023 successes:
Quality-of-Life Issues
- The Council adopted a new policy and ordinance relating to the City’s approach to addressing homelessness, focusing on street exits and allowing for encampment resolution.
- New Fractional ownership properties are now prohibited in all residential zones throughout the City after the Council incorporated the use into the existing time share ordinance, and the Coastal Commission approved the change.
- Newport Beach initiated an audit request of sober living homes licensed by the State to operate in residential neighborhoods. The State’s Joint Legislative Audit Committee accepted the request and anticipates the audit to be completed by the summer of 2024.
- Following Council approval, all public restrooms will now be closed nightly, consistent with the policies of all other Orange County cities, to increase safety and security for all users.
- The City revamped its data dashboards to provide easier access for residents to view information on police and fire calls for service, building permits, airport flight activity, code enforcement cases and more at www.newportbeachca.gov/gis.
- New technological innovations were introduced to further service to the community, including a new online portal, Civic Virtual Connect, for plan checks and other development services at www.newportbeachca.gov/civic. A new smartphone application at www.nbca.gov/queue allows customers to monitor Permit Center activity remotely.
New Facilities and Infrastructure Improvements
- The new Junior Lifeguard Building will be finished in spring 2024, in time for the summer season. It will also be available for community rentals and recreational programs when the Junior Guards are not in session.
- The Superior Avenue Pedestrian and Bicycle Bridge will create safer access to Sunset Ridge Park along with an expanded parking lot and park improvements, upon its completion in Spring 2024.
- For the first time in Newport Beach’s history, the City has a permanent municipal animal shelter. The shelter, funded entirely with private donations and donated to the City to operate, opened this year.
- CdM’s iconic Goldenrod Footbridge received about $160,000 worth of upgrades from the City, including replacement of the wooden planters, lighting, arches, irrigation and electrical systems.
- The Council allocated $3.4-million to update older, deteriorated water mains on Balboa Island, replace a section of water main on Evening Canyon Road, and build two new water pressure regulating stations in the Shore Cliffs and Cameo Shores area.
Public Safety
- A Peninsula enforcement team of additional police and parking control officers has replaced the Boardwalk Ambassador program on the Oceanfront Boardwalk. Officers continue to provide outreach and education, but are also taking enforcement actions, including citations and arrests.
- As part of the current fiscal year budget, the Council approved a new ambulance and six additional firefighter/paramedic positions to meet increased demand for emergency ambulance services.
- The City purchased a 3.59-acre property at 1210 Dove Street to replace the current NBPD headquarters, which does not meet current needs or standards. The City will manage and receive income from office rentals for about 10 years before constructing a new building to replace the current facility.
Budget and Finance
- The rating agency Fitch reaffirmed the City’s AAA credit rating, reflecting the City’s strong financial position, prudent fiscal management and robust local economy.
- The City achieved a General Fund operating budget surplus of $11.6 million for FY 2022-23, $3.8 million higher than anticipated. The funds will be used to reduce long-term debt obligation and invest in infrastructure and neighborhood improvement projects.
- Newport Beach continues to aggressively pay down long-term pension liabilities to ease the burden on future budgets, allocating $40 million from the 2022-23 adopted budget and an additional $5 million from the surplus.
Environment
- Construction began in September on the Newport Bay Trash Interceptor, a sustainably powered system to collect floating trash before it enters the Upper Newport Bay Nature Preserve. The $5.5 million system, which will capture 80 percent of the floating trash and debris from the San Diego Creek, is expected to be operational by December 2024.
- The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers replenished beach sand from Seal Beach to Newport Beach in a long-overdue $23-million project. Crews deposited about 1.2 million cubic yards of sand in the Sunset Beach area, which will move south over the next few years through natural wave and tidal flow.
- The City deployed new technologies in Newport Harbor to further maintain and improve water quality. Two state-of-the-art water quality sensing buoys now transmit real-time data to Harbor staff, and will soon be joined by two mobile trash-collection rovers to remove litter and clean pollutants.
- I look forward to keeping you informed on all City Council initiatives in 2024.
By Guest Contributor Lauren Kleiman, Newport Beach City Council Member – January 04, 2024
Source: Newport Beach Independent – https://www.newportbeachindy.com/op-ed-a-productive-year-in-review/
The City of Newport Beach has introduced a new license program offering 16 onshore and offshore City-owned moorings to the public in a variety of sizes. Applications for the initial licenses will be accepted through March 1, 2024.
The new program is designed for vessel owners to lease moorings long-term without having to acquire a permit, sub-permit or mooring equipment.
Monthly fees will be charged based on the size of the mooring, starting at $162 a month for an 18-ft. mooring. There is no cost to apply for one of the 16 new mooring leases.
Siyamak sits down with Seymour Beek, president of Balboa Island Ferry, one of Southern California’s oldest family-owned businesses. Today he will discuss the new rules in California aimed at reducing emissions and how they will impact small businesses.
“CARB made a rule that all short run fairies in California had to be zero emission by 2026. We consume an average of 26 gallons of fuel a day. You’re not gonna save the world by making us go zero emission,” Mr. Beek said. “They haven’t really examined the consequences of the rules they’re making. It’s extremely challenging, extremely expensive.”
As winter approaches, I start to look back on the year, and to prepare for the new year. Very similar to looking aft while sailing downwind in a sailboat race. Doing this will keep you aware of the changing conditions. With this in mind, I checked back in with Harbormaster Paul Blank this last week.
Q: From a distance it seemed like a quiet year, no oil spills, tsunamis, down aircraft. So what did I miss?
A: There were a couple of severe weather (wind and rain) events this year. We revived the technology we use to notify mooring permittees of approaching weather and urge them to verify their mooring equipment and lines to ensure all are secure. You may recall, there was considerable attention and communication in anticipation of Hurricane Hilary arriving in August. One other of the severe weather events was a strong Santa Ana which stresses the mooring equipment from a different direction than usual, so we have significant concern about boats staying in place when faced with unusual conditions. All in all, things were fine and we greatly appreciated everyone’s preparedness in the face of these severe events.
If you have started to hear Christmas music and noticed holiday TV ads, then you know it’s time for my annual recognition of our harbor’s sailing awards.
I’ll start with the Bahia Corinthian Yacht Club’s (BCYC) awards night and the juniors. Sailing director Carolyn Smith stepped up to the podium for her first time presenting awards at BCYC, and she nailed it. One can always tell if the event is someone’s first rodeo, however, Smith’s a pro and she made the night fun and memorable with clear descriptions of the awards she was presenting. The Juniors awards always brings back good times, or even more so by diluting the agony of defeat.
Nine years ago, when the 106th Annual Newport Beach Christmas Boat Parade was held, a few of us thought something was missing.
Not that there was anything wrong with the parade, which was going to feature its usual holiday splendor. But a few people felt it needed a little extra touch that many other parades around the country usually feature.
It was a Grand Marshal.
It almost seems impossible that a parade of this caliber can be held for more than a century without a Grand Marshal. Even much smaller parades in Orange County have them, with some even having multiples for the same parade (Say you Garden Grove Strawberry Festival).
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