City Council - Regular Meeting

Good afternoon. The time is 4 o'clock and I will call to order the June 9th City Council meeting. Now it's time for invocation followed by the Pledge of Allegiance by Councilmember Wiegand.

Respected members of the Newport Beach City Council, friends and neighbors, please join me in this invocation as we open today's session. Oh, God, source of wisdom, mercy and peace. We gather this afternoon with gratitude for the city we call home, for its families, neighborhoods, beaches, businesses, schools and all who contribute to its beauty and well-being. We ask you to bless the members of the city council, city staff, first responders, public servants, and all residents of the city. Grant our leaders wisdom in their deliberations, clarity in their decisions, humility in their service, and compassion for every person affected by their work. May this gathering be guided by respect, fairness, and a sincere commitment to the common good. Help us listen with open hearts, speak with dignity, and work together to build a community where all people feel safe, valued, and heard. Bless our city with peace, unity, and continued prosperity. Amen.

Thank you.

Please join me in saluting our nation and our nation's flag. Ready, begin. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

We'll move right into our study session item. Turn it over to our city manager, our assistant city manager, Tara Finnegan.

Yes, thank you, Mayor, and good afternoon, Mayor and Council. To recap for those that have not been following in this issue, after last year's July 4th holiday, We saw some things in the tenor of the festivities that we didn't like. So with council's direction and community input, staff spent about the past nine months putting together a plan to prepare for this year's Fourth of July so we can kind of return back to the family-friendly festivity-type atmosphere that we had come to enjoy in Newport Beach. So Chief Miner will kick it off. Chief Boyles will then take over. And Georgia Rios, our public information manager, will also participate in the presentation.

Thanks, Tara. Madam Mayor, council members, just to recap from the public safety perspective, our strategy, some of the actions that we've taken in preparation for this summer, particularly the 4th of July holiday. Beginning last year, we expanded the time frame of the safety enhancement zones from just a specific holiday to beginning Friday, July 3rd in the a.m. and it will terminate Monday night at the end of the day. So we expanded the time frame of the safety enhancement zone. And a few months ago this year, we also expanded the geographic area. The previous safety enhancement zone on the peninsula ended at 32nd Street. And that area has been pushed down past the Balboa Pier to B Street. And what that does in the safety enhancement zone, our fines are tripled and allows us to take a more aggressive approach to people that are violating the law or breaking the rules that we've set in place. Earlier this year, we also addressed shade structures on city beaches where the shade structures, there has to be room on the beach, a five foot clearance for emergency personnel, can't obstruct a view of police, lifeguards, fire, has to be six by six, basically trying to ensure that the beach area is manageable for us to see what's going on and to get to any emergencies that are occurring on the beach. We also added new short-term lodging regulations to make sure that anybody that is any bad actors or anybody that isn't abiding by our rules can be dealt with through the regulation process and certification process and not just citations. What we've done at the PD in preparation for this, one of the issues we experienced last year with the heavy call load and the amount of traffic and visitors were just logistically getting where we needed to go when we made arrests, getting those arrestees booked and processed. So we now are using the Corporation Yard on Superior as our staging area, and we've planned to establish a mobile booking station. So instead of taking arrestees from the peninsula and trying to get them to the Newport Beach Jail at Fashion Island, we'll take them up just up the street up to Superior where we can get them booked and processed and decide where they're going to go from there. We've also more than doubled or planned to double our outside agency support. from anywhere, you know, 60 plus. So that'll give us about, give or take, 200 officers, sworn officers, and that doesn't include parking and animal control and all the other employees, but about 200 sworn officers working that day. We've also, to try to streamline our medical clearance process with arrestees that need medical attention, We're in partnership and communicating with Hogue Hospital to expedite that process to have dedicated areas and staff. So when we bring an arrestee to the hospital, we can get that process quicker so those officers can get back out on the street quicker. And we're also improving our coordination with code enforcement who will be working that day also to address some of the code violations, whether they're from the short term rentals or other issues going on in the city. We also, if approved tonight, will have street closures or authorization to do street closures or detours just to ensure public safety with the amount of traffic and visitors. We want to make sure that the public is safe and that we as emergency first responders, police, fire, we can get to where we need to go. So you'll see some of those areas on the peninsula and also along the Back Bay and San Joaquin. The Newport Dunes is doing a fireworks show that evening. And so not just west side, but on the back bay, just allowing traffic to flow as best as possible and allow us to access areas in an emergency if needed. That's a very quick overview, at least from the police department side. I'll turn it over to Fire Chief Boyles now to speak about some of the strategies in place for the fire department.

Good evening mayor climbing members of Council Jeff Boyle's fire chief so to add to chief miners staffing chief car system chief of operations been working with local agencies and our lifeguards as well we will be staffing an additional paramedic transport ambulance throughout the entire weekend and on 4th of July itself will have additional paramedics additional fire apparatus, and additional command staff. And we're going to stage all of those at Station 2 at the Peninsula Station, which gives us essentially a mobile command post down on the Peninsula away from our normal-fashioned island station. So we'll have two battalion chiefs operating in different areas to keep the communications and, quite frankly, just the access to the rest of the Peninsula. Our mutual aid, I met with the Costa Mesa Fire Chief this morning. We have the automatic aid agreements in place, mutual aid agreements with the rest of the county, Huntington Beach included. But Costa Mesa will be upstaffing as well should we need their resources. And on the lifeguard side of things, all of our lifeguards will be fully staffed, all the boats, all the towers. additional unit operators in the sand to relieve some of the towers and some of the pinch point towers where we expect extra people will have additional lifeguards in it as well. So it's a real quick overview, but the main thing for us is just up staffing and the communication piece and being on the peninsula and being visible and being able to access different places in a timely manner.

Council, Zach Gentry, our municipal operations director, and Dave Webb, our public works director, are here this evening to answer questions, but I'm going to lightly touch on the extra effort their departments will put forth this year. Municipal operations also dedicate staff every year to the holiday weekend. This year they'll be adding 15 additional staffers throughout the weekend. they will themselves be making sure that the beach trash is cleaned up in the morning and the evening they're going to be adding extra public portable restrooms they'll be doing extra having our consultants our contractors excuse me doing extra portering in the restrooms the public restrooms throughout the city public works will have additional traffic traffic engineering staff throughout the weekend working. Brian Lou did some good work this week, coordinating with Caltrans. Caltrans has agreed to lengthen the signal timing on Newport Boulevard around Hospital Road. That allows us to clear the peninsula faster in the evening, so that should help with some of the bottlenecks at the end of the day on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Also, Public Works has now that our five trolleys are here, the trolley will operate Friday through Sunday all day to help also with traffic on the peninsula area. WITH THAT, GEORGIA RIOS WILL GIVE US A LOOK AT THE COMMUNICATION EFFORTS.

GOOD AFTERNOON, MAYOR AND CITY COUNCIL MEMBERS, GEORGIA RIOS, YOUR PUBLIC INFORMATION MANAGER. WE ARE TRYING TO GET ALL OF THE DIFFERENT DEMOGRAPHICS AND THE AUDIENCES THIS YEAR DURING OUR FOURTH OF JULY HOLIDAY WEEKEND. OUR FIRST IS THE SAFETY ENHANCEMENT ZONE. WE HAVE PARTNERED WITH OUR PARTNERS AT PD TO SEND OUT POST CARDS TO ALL OF THE DIFFERENT ADDRESSES AND HOMEOWNERS within the cdm and west newport area that will give them direct links to any information phone numbers contact information that they may need over the weekend and then we will also have additional beach signage that we have just pushed out what's really exciting is our new social media push it's our campaign is not in newport so during spring break we did start this campaign just to really rally more information about what we cannot be doing in newport beach so these videos really surround about duis public intoxication, fake IDs. It is good news within the past seven videos that we've pushed out, we've seen over 2.1 million views. We have reached over a million accounts. This is purely organic, which is really great to see. We have a lot of great engagement in the comments and we've just seen a lot of good sharing within this campaign. Additionally, we will be doing pushing out some more information, specifically targeting those visitors that are coming into Newport Beach, We are working with the fire department, the lifeguard to do a bunch of beach safety campaigns. So just to add a little bit more educational awareness as we see more visitors come on to our beaches. Um, and then additionally throughout the whole weekend, we will be having our Newport notified and next door available. So if there are any emergencies, we'll be able to push out all the information through there as well as the city's website where you can find more information and that'll be at Newport beach, ca.gov forward slash 4th of July. And that's it. Thank you.

And we do have some fun events plan recreation will have the annual 4th of July is for families bike parade and community event on the peninsula and in the evening the city is once again hosting the fireworks display at the dunes and last but not least if anyone would like more information here's where the non emergency contacts for the holiday weekend. And that concludes our presentation.

Thank you Tara and our chiefs in Georgia. Councilmember Stapleton.

Yeah, I just want to begin by thanking our team. This is a team effort, no doubt. My question to you, let's start with police. So how many sworn officers do we have last year on the streets on the 4th of July, you think, Chief?

So... all of our able bodied officers, you know, Newport beach officers work that day and we've more than doubled our request for outside agency personnel. So last year it was a 30 something and we're looking for at least 60 outside agency personnel, orange County sheriff, CHP and a few of the other local PDS.

Do we think we'll have success with, are they already locked in or ready to go or

We're still working on getting, you know, on a volunteer basis, trying to encourage early sign-ups so we can plan for that, yes.

Okay, all right. So how many sworn officers on the Newport Beach PD side do you think we'll have out there? You know... Because everyone's working this day, right?

Yeah, not including a few of the injured officers or extenuating circumstances, between about 135 and 140.

So that's where the 200 number comes from, hopefully having 200 sworn officers between Newport and outside agencies.

Yes, sir.

Okay, cool. I think it's a terrific idea with the west side. I think that was a huge issue last year. So many of your guys and men and women were taken off the streets to deal with some of these juveniles and that. I'M REALLY HAPPY TO SEE THAT. THAT'S A TERRIFIC EFFORT. FROM A TRAFFIC STANDPOINT, I REMEMBER LEAVING PENINSULA POINT AFTER THE FIREWORKS SHOW THAT CRUSO HOSTED FOR THE ENTIRE PENINSULA POINT NEIGHBORHOOD. TRAFFIC WAS BACKED UP FROM THE WEDGE ALL THE WAY, BUMPER TO BUMPER THE WHOLE WAY. WE TALKED ABOUT OPENING THE SIGNAL ON HOSPITAL. Is there a way to get CHP or somebody to help have an officer or somebody standing there that can help? I mean, that's what they do really well. Our officers as well, but I think I'd rather have our guys who understand the neighborhoods better on the streets. But is there a way to have a uniformed body somewhere to help get traffic off the peninsula?

Yeah, we will. And that's part of our plan and the traffic egress getting off the peninsula. The issue and that's what Tara addressed is we can get them out of our city. But once they hit city limits or go on to, you know, the PCH, which is a state highway or into Costa Mesa, you know, then that effort is limited, at least on our part. But we will be working. Our traffic division will be working to get them off the peninsula and out of the city as quick as possible to avoid that again.

OKAY. COOL. AND THEN ASSISTANT CITY MANAGER, YOU TALKED ABOUT RESTROOMS AND PORTABLE RESTROOMS. MY ONLY CONCERN IS YEARS AGO, AND I THINK CHIEF WOULD AGREE, WE CREATED THIS FESTIVAL VIBE WHERE WE CLOSE DOWN SOME OF THE STREETS, WE PUT OUT PORTABLE RESTROOMS, AND IT ALMOST INVITED PEOPLE TO COME INTO THE COMMUNITY AND MAYBE NOT BEHAVE THE BEST THAT WE WOULD EXPECT FROM OUR RESIDENTS AND VISITORS. WHERE DO YOU THINK THESE PORTABLE RESTROOMS ARE GOING TO BE LOCATED?

Zach Gentry knows the exact locations if he doesn't mind coming forward. And we do understand that concern. These were strategically located to relieve some of those heavy restroom use areas to make sure we had a facility present for the public.

Yeah. Is that on? Hi, Mayor and Council. So we're doing Newport Pier, Balboa Pier, Westcliff Park, and Balboa Island is our thought for those four extra restroom areas.

Okay. So where existing restrooms already are just adjacent and providing more resources. Okay.

They get very inundated.

Okay. So these aren't going in parking lots around the peninsula or around the city that don't have it. Okay. All right. Thank you. Cool. Okay. Yeah. I mean, kudos to the team. I know I've been working with you guys for nine months or for the last year to get this done. So I know we're going to put our best foot forward and make sure that the 4th of July is safe and well enjoyed for everybody in the community. So I'm looking forward to seeing you guys out there, but thank you for your, thank you for the team effort from police and fire and our lifeguards. And from a staff standpoint too, this will be a 250th birthday. So we're going to have a lot of fun out there and hopefully everyone's got the message. Well done.

Any other comments up here? OK. I want to just add that I think the police department did a tremendous job managing the crowds last year. I'm glad to see us doubling down on preparation and additional mitigation measures this year. I know no one else wants to say, but I am looking forward to hopefully maximum enforcement and a zero tolerance posture. I want to talk a little bit about signage. We had some out there for Memorial Day weekend, which was great. I would like to see us move that signage forward a little bit so that it's more visible before people get down to beach areas so that they can decide how they want to plan their day or evening before they get comfortable and situated on the beach, including messaging about alcohol. CERTAINLY MINOR CURFEW FOR THE EVENING HOURS. I'D ALSO LIKE TO SEE US WITH THE NOT IN NEWPORT CAMPAIGN DO SOME ADDITIONAL TARGETED AD CAMPAIGN SO THAT WE CAN TAKE IT THAT NEXT STEP AND REACH NOT JUST RESIDENTS AND THOSE WHO MIGHT BE ALREADY FOLLOWING BUT REALLY GET TO THE PEOPLE THAT WE KNOW ARE COMING IN FROM OUT OF TOWN AND OTHER PLACES. So I'd love to see us add that next level. Also maybe using the Newport Notified in addition to the postcards to remind everybody of the rules, the fireworks, curfew, our other campaigns, the safety enhancement zone, triple fines, that's a big one. I know we keep referring to safety enhancement zone, but we have to remember not everybody knows what that means. So it might be more effective to lean in on the triple fine message. Same thing with our short-term lodging. I know we're reaching people with those postcards, but again, just emphasize the message and hopefully the deterrence. Also, are we doing anything kind of ahead of 4th of July with bars, IDs and capacity checks? Just again to reinforce with all of our partners down there that we expect everybody to do their part.

Yeah, leading up to the 4th of July, we are definitely working with the bar owners and communicating with ABC who may have a presence that weekend to come help make sure underage or over serving or overcrowding issues are addressed.

May have a presence. I like that. Okay, those are all my comments. Council member again.

Yeah, I just wanted to add on to some of the stuff that the mayor was saying as far as communications. So, Georgia, I don't know if there's a way to utilize the existing sites that we have to kind of broadcast out. I think there's tools in the social media universe that allow you to basically, I think it's called geofencing, and putting it around Newport Beach and the surrounding area to basically say, you know, you pull up, they're essentially ads of messaging that go out to folks who are on those sites that say, hey, don't screw around here in town this weekend, you know, we're paying attention, you know, similar to what the mayor's kind of saying, but add on to just subscribers, right? Because you can't just put it out there and you'll just get the same people that already probably are good citizens following our sites, but perhaps there's a way to let any visitor who happens to be in that range pull up their social media and then there's some type of communication going out that says the do's and the don'ts in our town.

Yes, that's correct. We will be doing that outside targeting through social media that will not only get the followers, but more importantly, the visitors that are coming in and around the area. So we can definitely do a target everybody.

Okay. Yeah, that, that would be important because people will just assume they can get away with stuff. I know that handles, I think was a pretty big. epicenter last year for a lot of gathering and it's not, you know, people who are coming out of the bars or going into the bars, they tend to be misguided youth, you know, utilizing the social media platforms to, you know, communicate with other folks that, oh, hey, this looks cool if I light off this M80 right here in this crowd or if I, you know, do something dumb climbing up on, you know, white posts. These things happened last year and it seemed like handles was kind of that epicenter for that on the oceanfront lot. So I don't know if there's some of those video cameras that show a little extra presence. I've seen them in and around town. We've increased a few of them and I appreciate the chief for finding some grant money and then also adding a few of those. But just the image of a camera up there with the, and they put them in shopping centers, but the flashing lights that show that this is being recorded, I think is a deterrent. So perhaps at that area, and I think there is one right now there. And so that is going to be helpful, I think, for us. But, you know, just proactive approach, and I think that we're doing a really good job looking forward, and we've got an item on our agenda for the sheriffs, and we've got the outreach to our neighboring cities. Huntington's will be a challenge because they'll be in the same situation as us, but hopefully Irvine's got a little more accessibility. I think last year they had a fireworks display or something that they're not doing this year, so I hope that there are some takers there and some of our other surrounding partners, but I think this year is going to be a good year. It falls on a weekend, so it's challenging, and a lot of people want to come to Newport for that extended holiday, and it'll be a challenge, but I think we're up to the task, and I appreciate you guys coming to us to discuss this today, especially fire, too, and you guys have been meeting a lot of this past year, and a lot of, I walk by, and I say, oh, what's all the top brass doing, and we're discussing 4th of July. You guys have been doing this since last year, and so I think it's going to go a long way for this year, so I appreciate it.

Okay, we'll open it up for public comments at this time.

Mayor Kleinman and members of the council, my name is Jim Mosher and I apologize if I wasn't paying close enough attention at the beginning. I was trying to download the agenda packet. Is all of this enhanced supplemental staffing going to be in effect, my question is, for the entire four days, including Monday, which I do not believe is even a holiday, or is it only on selected days during the weekend? Thank you.

Next speaker, please.

good afternoon mayors and members of the council great job at the parade by the way thank you for attending um i just wanted to make a really quick comment about balboa island during these really busy periods and the chief our new chief was fabulous during boat parade so we saw additional police services during boat parade and the police department was very visible but Fourth of July is another one of those days that we would appreciate some additional police resources available to improve our response time. And then final comment is when the fire truck leaves the island on the Fourth of July, our medical response time goes down to what I would call kind of a scary response time. So I'm hoping the chief recognizes that certain holidays and really busy periods when our fire station number 64 leaves to go to promontory or respond to an incident off island, it's really difficult to get back on in a major medical emergency. Thank you very much.

Thank you. Next speaker, please.

Good afternoon. My name is Laura Curran. I wanted to just comment on two areas. One is it's nice to see a comprehensive plan. The communication plan is very focused on social media, but many of us read the LA Times, the Daily Pilot, and other sources for information. I would encourage that we also reach out to the Voice of OC, where Noah Beceda is the Orange County reporter, or 89.3 Elias, where Jill Replico is the Orange County reporter, because they get a lot of attention for their coverage that is picked up and can also be added to social. I do agree signage is important, especially the dynamic signage that the police department and the other departments can put out. So on another level, This plan shows that we have an approach where the police will be deployed, patrolling, and executing in the areas of greatest need. We really appreciate the coverage and coordination by police, utilities, I'm sure park and recreation is involved, and other departments, the harbor department are all involved. And in this case, we'll be using the utility yard near Superior and near Hogue Hospital. really a smart strategy because we'll have fast response, as the plan said, where the activity is happening. What this demonstrates is that as we consider the needs of our police department and we build out that needs assessment for a new police station, that the priority is really supporting the police when they're on patrol in our communities and when they're following up on those important actions. So we really want to emphasize those activities that support the police on patrol. So I would suggest, for example, that we take the $1.5 million currently being considered to restudy Civic Center Park and deploy that to help police in supporting these types of active patrol situations and event management in the future. Clearly, Civic Center Park is not the right place for a police station, nor is it really the priority to build in our civic center. So thank you very much for police and fire. Cause I'm sure that fire is involved in this whole command situation and there'll probably be some cert community members as well for providing a good plan on July 4th. And I hope this is the best, um, most peaceful one ever. Thank you. Thank you.

Any other comments? Seeing none, do either of the chiefs want to respond to Mr. Moser and Mr. Pearl's comments? Staffing and response times on the island.

i can start with just staffing so beginning thursday july 2nd we're increasing our staffing both hired extra internally and bringing in some of our neighboring agencies so thursday friday will be heavy deployment nothing like saturday but beginning thursday friday saturday and then sunday there will be increased heavy deployment at least from the pd side

Thank you, Chief Boyles.

And to Mr. Pearl, I don't know where you went, but that's an excellent point. During the parade, we actually staff a paramedic on what we call our Polaris, so basically a a rigged up golf cart when it has all the extra equipment on it. During 4th of July and events such as that, because it is difficult to get on and off the island as we know, so we have access to AVL so we can utilize different units that are off of the island if need be to keep engine 64 stationary. So that's kind of a, that'll be a decision, a game time decision if you will, from the battalion chief when they're deciding If it's a medical call to go off the island, it might be safer, easier to bring an engine from another place and leave engine 64 stationary. So those are things we do take into consideration. I'm glad you brought that up. Thank you.

Thank you. Any other comments up here? Seeing none, staff, do you need anything else from us? Thank you for the collective efforts. We appreciate it. Okay, moving on. Madam Clerk, please read the notice regarding public comments on agenda and non agenda items.

The City Council of Newport Beach welcomes and encourages community participation. Public comments are invited on items listed on the agenda and non agenda items. Speakers must limit comments to three minutes per person to allow everyone to speak. Written comments encouraged as well. The City Council has a discretion to extend or shorten the time limit on agenda and non agenda items.

We will now proceed with public comments on all agenda and non-agenda items. Please note that members of the public will still have an opportunity to comment on agenda items under consent, public hearing, current business, and closed session later in the meeting, provided they do not comment on those items at this time. Speaker who comments on any consent calendar item will not be permitted to comment again on the consent calendar later in the meeting.

Good afternoon. I had a graphic I was hoping could be called up. If you recall back in the February 10th meeting to address concerns from the state regarding the management of tidelands, City Council established the Public Trust Land Management Ad Hoc Committee to review and develop recommendations to the full City Council regarding a legally compliant, transparent, and strategic path forward to ensure that the city's actions are consistent with the applicable state and public trust principles.

Is this available to be called up?

Okay. It seems I'll hand these seven copies from our council to the staff. It seems that this is not wanting to be discussed by some individuals. If you're not aware, the State Lands Commission manages about 4 million acres in the state of California. They write many leases for recreational uses, piers, moorings, docks, and whatnot. They set benchmark rates about every five years for the geographic regions of the state with large concentrations of similar uses. They already have a category one Southern California benchmark for Ventura, Orange, Los Angeles, and San Diego counties. This rate applies to docks, piers, and moorings, or buoys as they call. them it complies with california statutes the public test doctrine and state lands commission guidelines no more expensive questionable appraisals which i will address at another meeting because it takes more time it avoids the improper gifting of public lands and it avoids discrimination between user groups This is an already in force rate developed by experts. And addressing benchmarks, the State Lands Commission reports that do these say, quote, benchmarks are used to establish uniform rental rates in specific geographic regions with large concentrations of similar facilities, mostly private recreational improvements within the commission's jurisdiction. The use of benchmarks improves the consistency, transparency, and efficiency in how the commission establishes rent for larger numbers of similar leases, saving time, resources, and money for both the applicant and the state. Periodic benchmark adjustments assure that people of the state are fairly compensated according to current market rates. Market rates is repeated often by city staff. The state already sets a market rate. It's used in Huntington Harbor. That's only six miles away. All kinds of problems could be resolved by the city adopting usage of that right here And again more times required than three minutes allows and you'll hear from me in the future.

Thank you Any other comments

Hello. Hi, guys. Mayor Kleinman and the rest of the council, I am Heather representing Newport Bay Conservancy. Just as a tangent, Pig Canyon is looking great. We are so excited to be able to expand our coastal zone to protect our wonderful upper Newport Bay. But I am here today on behalf of our board of directors wishing to comment on the ordinance proposed for adoption, ordinance number 26-5, amending Title 21 of the Newport Beach Municipal Code to implement the housing overlay that was recently approved by the California Coastal Commission. Now, we, of course, at Upper Newport Bay and Newport Bay Conservancy are, while we recognize the importance of meeting these regional housing goals, we are deeply concerned about the implications of this ordinance, particularly on its potential impacts to the Upper Newport Bay Nature Reserve. Nature Preserve and Big Canyon Nature Park. The Upper Newport Bay, as you know, is one of those more important estuarine systems supporting migratory birds, biodiversity, and critical ecological processes. This increased residential density in these adjacent areas to the reserve, most notably the golf course, clinic tennis club, and by Park Newport. They definitely raise significant concerns regarding habitat degradation, water quality, and long-term ecological integrity. Now, regardless of the Coastal Commission's approval, we do believe that this proposal doesn't significantly demonstrate consistency, particularly with protecting environmentally sensitive habitat areas and maintaining water quality. We also believe that this proposed overlay allows this residential development, regardless of the underlying use, which is in your general plan, enabling conversion of open spaces such as golf courses in these low density areas. While these landscapes aren't formally habitat, they are huge ecological buffers and provide habitat movement within these corridors. The loss of conversion to these high density dwellings would significantly reduce habitat permeability, loss of transitional space that is critical for wildlife. We also believe that the high density development will increase impervious surfaces leading to greater storm runoff entering the bay. Given the bay is already sensitive, it is an impaired water body. We think these inputs will exasperate ecological stress on the habitat. we also we we recognize that some of these high density developments are within our flood zone and these low-lying areas directly adjacent to the bay that can already experience flooding that's three minutes thank you so much thank you so much thank you next speaker

Good evening. Mayor Kleinman, council members, Ron Rubino, Newport Beach resident, 39 years. I am commenting on a similar item that was just commented on on the agenda for the second reading of the Measure 2 related to the Coastal Commission's concurrence with our housing plan. This action completes the implementation plan and it has been approved by the coastal commission and I realize this is the second reading, but I also wanted to comment because I feel this is kind of like the icing on the cake. This completes the implementation process of our housing plan. I'm not aware of any next step other than implement going forward. The state encouraged and approved the Ability for our housing plan to be submitted without a charter 423 vote and I really feel that that green light vote would have been important to educate the public and to have concurrence by the residents now the state encouraged and improved this tactic the courts ruled against the 423 vote and the city was allowed to submit the plan without voter approval I'm disappointed because I'm a strong believer in local control and I think the state took that away from us The voice and preference of residents was never allowed to participate in the final housing plan and implementation changes. I believe three things. The developers with council's concurrence wanted rezoning to permit housing with no green light vote. Second, the implementation plan with overlays and changes to height density restrictions opened up the door and locked in many more units than the housing mandate requires. Number three, the council can now approve unlimited number of building permits and development plans in defined housing opportunity sites with the new zoning overlays. My conclusion is the housing development units will likely far exceed the 4,485 units that the state mandated in all the various categories on the six cycle. This will be stacked apartments and condos. I believe it's too many new units in too short a period of time. I suggest city council take action to slow down the new units being approved and focus on the mandated affordable units required by october 2029. The current approved projects are close to meeting the total mandated numbers. We'll report back on that at another time. I think we need to anticipate the state HCD will require another housing quota be assigned for the seventh cycle. So it's going to start all over. Local control is better than state mandates. Too many units in too short a period of time is not good for development of our community.

Thank you.

Thank you. Next speaker, please.

Hi, everyone. My name is Suri Yagmai.

My name is Charlie Gomez, and we are advising seniors at Sage Hill School.

We have a club called Bridge Forward in which we discuss challenging issues with the aim of listening, learning, and understanding all perspectives while avoiding conflict.

Suri and I started the club freshman year. Since then, we have shared our program with around 200 students. We have run our 30- to 45-minute program at a number of places, including local middle schools, Boy Scout and Girl Scout troop meetings, and an annual middle school student conference at Sage.

We also worked with kids work and afterschool program based in Santa Ana that supports kids from pre-K to senior year and completing their education and becoming good citizens.

Our goal is to spread our word around the community and make sure that people integrated in their everyday lives. And in this divided world, we're here today to ask you for your hope and gain this message out in Newport beach.

we propose that we create a series of instagram posts for the city of newport beach instagram account that introduces these ideas to the community for example we suggest posting tips on having productive conversations such as withholding judgment or asking follow-up questions to further understanding we know these posts would help further unite the community and provide an informational important form of media for the city in this generation and the next

I have a couple papers I would like you guys to see. We would love to know what you think of our idea and whether you have any, do you guys have any questions for us?

This is just public comment, but you could connect with Ms. Rios. I'm sure she'd be happy to chat with you offline.

Thank you.

Thank you. Any other comments? Now is the time for council announcements or reports from council members on committee activities.

Hi, my name is Laura Curran. I want to comment on item number 13 on the consent calendar, which is the post-retirement temporary employment agreement with Kevin Bass for fire marshal and civilian services. And I want to call this out because the fire marshal is a really critical position that, as in the Corona Del Mar Residence Association, for example, and other residence associations, we have really advocated with the city to retain the fire marshal position. so first of all we want to thank jim gillespie who is retired or who's actually now going to murrieta to be their fire marshal because in his work he has worked with state fire marshals statewide to give newport beach a leading position in planning and emergency management for fire And at the same time, we appreciate the council's efforts in bringing back Kevin Bass, our former fire marshal, on a temporary appointment as a retiree. And for the public's information, what that means is Mr. Bass is eligible to serve in the position in compliance with his retirement agreement. And the rate will be $91 an hour. And this is a senior position, so that's a reasonable rate. But if you're interested in that part of the report, you can read that in the staff report. What's important for the public to understand and for our city council and our staff is that we really launch a comprehensive recruitment for this position. so that we can consider the best internal and external candidates, and we get a candidate who can really represent Newport. The fire marshal is responsible for helping the fire department and the public with fire safety issues, with planning for fire safety. For example, in Buck Gully, the fire department, the fire marshal has been integral to helping manage overgrowth in Buck Gully and working with the residents and Corona Del Mar neighborhoods to improve the fire safety in Buck Gully. And that's been critical. He also interprets the insurance plans and helps the fire department understand which type of insurance coverage will be affected through what type of landscaping and other development plans in our neighborhoods. That's a function they've served in Newport Coast extensively. They also help with the fire marshal will set up inspections for homeowners or for businesses to determine if their landscaping or other construction is suitable and fire safe. So this is a really important role. We really appreciate the council's ongoing support of this role because this position was vacant for several years. And several, as I mentioned, we have advocated to have a fire marshal. So we appreciate the investment on a temporary basis and look forward to the investment in the fire marshal role. And I really encourage the residents when the fire marshal is holding events and meetings to go to those meetings and learn about what they do and become active in managing fire safety in Newport. Thank you.

Thank you okay seeing no other comments now is the time for Council announcements or reports from Council members on committee activities in the time for Council members to request an item be placed on a future agenda. Council member why can't you have any announcements or reports.

JUST MORE ON THE ANNOUNCEMENT SIDE, I ATTENDED A MEMORIAL SERVICE FOR FORMER POLICE CHIEF CHARLES P. GROSS AND I WANTED TO THANK A COUPLE OF OUR DEPARTMENT PERSONNEL FOR ATTENDING AND PARTICIPATING IN THE SERVICE. HEATHER THOMPSON, PART OF OUR HONOR GUARD, SHE WAS THERE WITH CHIEF MINER AND THEY PRESENTED an American flag and they partnered with LAPD to do a flag folding ceremony and I thought that was a really nice touch that LAPD sent representatives and then Newport PD had great representation as well and it was it's a time honored tradition to do so and it was it was a good touch and I attended with my mom who is an employee for 33 years and Chief Gross was the chief at one point and touched her in meaningful ways that it did others and there was a lot of retirees from the department there that attended. So it was a very nice touch. I do want to recognize that got a big swell occurring right now on the peninsula and Zach Gentry and his team at municipal operations department. Simone got a lot of texts from me last week saying this is going to be a big one and I appreciate you guys coming out. with the bulldozers, with the crews, some exposed rail line has popped up down at the wedge. So we've got team out there right now kind of assessing what can be done. So and then the lifeguard team on top of that, they had a tremendous crew out there today and yesterday and they're doing a lot of rescues and they have their first meeting tomorrow morning that I think some of the council will be attending, but these guys are just getting started and we got a huge swell to start off there. Some of these guys are rookies out there. I saw at P Street yesterday there was a rookie out there, so I thought that was pretty cool to see our guys in full force making a lot of rescues or at least dry rescues and warnings out there. good work to those guys and then lastly on the public works side mike senecori again has been helpful there at the sanitation district pump station redo on the bay bridge or at the pch bridge they're doing a massive project to redo our sewer lines in fact they're micro tunneling right now underneath the entire harbor from one side of the bridge to the other And that's caused an impact with bicyclists and pedestrians. So there's a temporary staircase that's there. And there's going to be about over 100 junior guards that will go around that section on their way to and from junior guards starting next week. So Mr. Sinecori has been working to develop a plan to get the bikes. The bikes are heavy for some of these youngsters. So getting the bikes up and over the staircase and we're going to implement hopefully a little piece of a ramp that the kids can push their bikes up. So Mike's been working really hard. We've been trying to get some Orange County Sanitation District feedback, but it's kind of hitting a little few snags. So Mike's really jumped into that. So I appreciate his hard work over at Public Works. That's all I have. Thank you.

Council Member Bartow. Yes, I was pleased to attend that farewell party for James Gillespie and we wish him the best and thank him for everything He's done for our city. I was honored to be able to present an address at the Newport Beach TV festival Down at the Lido Theatre. That was a fun one and then just to echo Eric and Sand is something we talk a lot about at our water quality committee. And of course, these swells coming up were quite a topic last Thursday when we met. So I wanted to thank staff for being so proactive and getting the sand up there. And Zach Gentry, you've had quite a run in the short time you've been here. But thank you for all your hard work. And thanks to all the staff and lifeguards who are preparing and for all the work that they've yet to do. Council Member Grant.

Thank you. I also want to compliment the Newport Beach Film Festival on the second annual Newport Beach TV Fest. They've created an enormous enterprise in just two years and have brought a lot of attention, positive attention to our city as well as the economy. So congratulations to the Newport Beach Film Festival. for their second annual TV Fest. I also want to compliment the Balboa Island Improvement Association and everyone else on the parade team. It was a spectacular Balboa Island parade. It seemed seamless from being in the parade. I'm sure there was a lot that went on behind the scenes, but once again, that was a home run for our community. So many people go out and enjoy it. It's really a highlight of our year, I think, in our city. So thank you so much to everybody on the Babel Island team that gets that accomplished. And then a fond farewell to James Gillespie. I wasn't able to attend his going away party. We did speak briefly. I worked a lot with James on fire safety and i will miss him i appreciate that kevin bass is coming back because he also has been a wonderful fire marshal in our city and he'll be wonderful as our interim and look forward to i know what will be a very rigorous process in replacing both of these great men thank you councilmember weber

Yes, just to echo council member grant. Thank you to everyone involved in the Bible island parade and especially our public safety. I think that was the most presence I've seen in a number of years. So I know that it's always reassuring to see everyone out there and. Jules had the best time writing with Mayor Kleinman and I'm sure people are even more confused now as to which one of us is which but thank you again and then just a reminder that the Exchange Club of Newport Harbor is going to put up 250 America flags on the Civic Center lawn from June 22nd to July 6th in honor of America 250. So I encourage everyone to check it out.

Councilmember Stapleton.

Yeah, that'll be cool to see. Well done with the flags. 250. We have Antonella Castro joining us tonight in the audience. And I want to give her a huge kudos and congratulations as the chair of the Newport Beach Foundation. We graduated the 14th class of DCP. So it takes the organization over 400 graduates. So that's really impressive. Well done to the Newport Beach Foundation. And the foundation is also involved in the new plaque going up at John Wayne Park. THE AMERICA 250 PLAQUE THAT WILL HAPPEN, THE PRESENTATION WILL BE ON JUNE 23RD AT 2.30 PRIOR TO OUR NEXT COUNCIL MEETING. IF YOU'RE AVAILABLE TO ATTEND, PLEASE DO. I THINK THERE'S A NUMBER OF PEOPLE TO THANK ON THAT WHEN WE GET TO THAT POINT. AND THEN, YEAH, KUDOS TO THE BABEL ISLAND PARADE, THE ENTIRE ORGANIZATION. YOU GUYS HIT A HOME RUN LIKE YOU ALWAYS DO. IT'S ONE OF THE THINGS I LOOK FORWARD TO THE MOST. NEWPORT BEACH REALLY SHOWS UP AND THE ISLAND REALLY GETS TO SHOW OFF HOW MUCH THEY ARE LIKE A HALLMARK MOVIE. That is a great tradition in the city of Newport Beach. And I will just echo my fellow council colleagues talking about the swell and everything going on in Newport Beach to all of our departments. Well done on continuing to protect quality life for all of us and to everyone who's out there making sure everyone's safe and enjoying our beaches and to the film festival for TV Fest. I had an opportunity to go over there on Sunday and that was a home run. So another second annual, I think it's the second annual and it just gets it's it's already a signature event in the city. So Well done for that and it is definitely summer in Newport Beach. The peninsula has been very busy, so our team is working very hard behind the scenes to make sure everything goes as planned. So yeah, that's it.

I pretend blown nothing.

Thank you.

Madam Kirk, would you please read the notice regarding public comments on the consent calendar?

This is a time in which council members may pull items from the consent calendar for discussion, items 1 through 18. Public comments are also invited on consent calendar items. Speakers must limit comments to three minutes. Before speaking, please state your name for the record. If any item is removed from the consent calendar by a council member, members of the public are invited to speak on each item for up to three minutes per item. All matters listed on the consent calendar are considered to be routine and will be enacted by one motion in the form listed below. Council members have received detailed staff reports on each of the items recommending an action. There will be no separate discussion of these items prior to the time the City Council votes on the motion unless members of the City Council request specific items to be discussed and or removed from the consent calendar for separate discussion.

Before we get to the consent calendar, to comply with the government code, there needs to be a quick summary of the salary, salary schedule, fringe benefits related to the employment agreements for the fire and police chiefs. Mr. Jurgis?

Thank you, Madam Mayor. For agenda number nine, the government code requires I provide a brief oral summary of the salary ranges and fringe benefits provided by the city before the agreements are approved. Based on recent analysis of base salaries, I'm recommending that the police chief's base salary be increased to $324,386 with a salary range of $215,000. $215,041 to $338,644. And the fire chief's base salary be increased to $314,919 with a salary range of $199,980. to $314,919. This will help ensure that we maintain appropriate compensation differentials between the executive leadership positions and subordinate classifications. In addition, the police chief will receive one, an annual base salary increase of 3% each February until he reaches the top of the police chief salary schedule. Two, The same base salary increases as the Police Management Association. Three, a uniform allowance of $1,350. Four, scholastic achievement pay, which ranges from 7% to 8.5% of base salary. Five, special leadership compensation of 4% of base salary. Six, a city provided vehicle. Seven, an annual physical exam. And eight, other retirement leave and health benefits provided to executive management employees. Similarly, the fire chief will receive, one, the base salary increase as the fire management association, two, a uniform allowance of $1,519, three, scholastic achievement pay, which ranges from 5.5% to 7% of base salary, four, certificate pay of 3% of base pay, five, a city-provided vehicle, six, an annual... physical exam, and seven other retirement leave and health benefits provided to executive management employees. That concludes my speak.

Thank you, Mr. Jurgis. Now, Council Member Weigand, do you have any items to pull from the consent calendar or conflicts to announce related to items number 1 through 18?

No, I do not.

Council Member Bartow? I do not.

Councilmember Grant none Councilmember Weber none Councilmember Stapleton, yeah conflict and I don't number 5 based on real property interest in 4100 and 4110 MacArthur.

Mayor pretend long.

Thank you, madam mayor, I have a recuse on I'm number 5 to real property interest at 4.17 and 5 on 30th Street number cues on I remember 10 to the real property interest at 2 to 4 Murray.

And I have known what any member from the public like to speak on the consent calendar at this time.

Mayor Kleinman, members of the council, my name again is Jim Mosier. First of all, regarding the minutes, I did have a chance to look at the suggested revisions. And I would point out, you might want the minutes to reflect that our city does have an area called the Findlay tract. It does not have an area called the Findlay tract. So you might want to correct that. Item seven is calling the election on November 3. As I explained in writing, I think it would be beneficial to have a discussion of what the options are for how long the ballot statements can be of the council candidates in the sample ballot. There is an option of 200 words or 400 words. And if it's possible to provide candidates that option, I think we should be doing that rather than restricting everybody to 200 words. regarding item 14, which is your approval of a final tracked map for the Ford Road residential project. As you know, that was extremely controversial, and I think, and the staff report does not provide clarity whether you have any further discretion over what you are approving tonight. And then most importantly, like the two earlier speakers, I wanted to comment on item number two, which is your approval of housing overlays that you are allowed to approve by the Coastal Commission. This involves, as you recall, this is the final step in what we were told without a green light vote was our requirement to build forth to provide for 4,845 units in Newport Beach, which is our housing mandate. A later item on the agenda points out that we already, without this, have approved or entitled, or in the works, 5,645 units. 5,564 units. So the need for this, and the reason there was not a need for a green light vote on this seems to have evaporated. We've already met our quota. What we're not meeting is our affordable housing requirement, and the way this is written provides no assurance that this will provide any additional affordable housing. So I imagine the time is going out. I can't really see that very well. But I would just recommend that you take Heather's comments from the Newport Bay Conservancy to heart. And even if you were to approve this, at least do not put a housing overlay on the properties that are ecologically significant or could have a serious impact on our upper bay. Most clearly, the golf course project golf course property and the Park Newport properties. Those should not have a housing overlay put on them, whether the Coastal Commission would allow it or not. It's a decision you should be making and the decision should be no. Thank you.

Adam Leverins, I too want to share concerns about the housing overlay in the coastal zone. Things I've shared previously, as I understand it, if Newport doesn't start building some level of affordable housing being mandated by the state, future council members and mayors are going to have to deal with it. It's a challenge, I know. But I have seen a number of instances where affordable housing is going away and not being replaced. And by giving developers the opportunity to pay a $36,000 in lieu fee if they don't comply with the mandate, it's cheaper for them to pay the fee and collect market rate rent for a year there needs to be some change in policy to encourage actual development of affordable housing i mean there needs to be people here to work on boats and serve food and cocktails and do lawn work and things like that and they shouldn't all have to commute from somewhere outside of the area so i expect this you know it's in consent to be approved but this really needs to be addressed beyond the level it is being addressed agenda item 17 harbor commission objectives for 2026 this is a receive and file item but i don't know how many harbor commission meetings i've noted that i think it improper that they remove restrooms from their goals and objectives the current chair of the harbor commission apparently there was talk about floating restrooms back in the day which really scared him off of talking about any restrooms but this is a water quality issue we all want clean water in the harbor and the ocean and to have them just remove it, again, I think is improper. And then goal number one on that, I would like to see incorporated some aspect of fiscal review. There is fiscal review and another goal under three, but there's a lot of money involved in the harbor, and I think there's opportunity to look at things and maybe do things in a better way, and I would just encourage that to get more consideration. Thank you.

Any other speakers on consent?

Good evening, Mayor Kleinman, other members of the City Council. I would like to also compliment the City and the Council for the recent home runs, so to speak, which Councilman Stapleton mentioned earlier. The parade was really fantastic and Seeing everyone there was really just invigorating. I'm here tonight. My name is Susan DeSantis. I'm a 40-year resident of Newport Beach. I'm here to speak about item number two on the ordinance. And I know this is on the consent calendar, it hasn't been pulled, but I do think that this is more than simply a technical zoning amendment. It establishes zoning and development rights that could shape Newport Beach for decades. Residents understand future projects will still have to go through the approval process, but the zoning determines what is possible. Before we enact these rights throughout the coastal zone, I think the public deserves a full understanding of what this ordinance would enable. And I would encourage the council to consider that and to provide more opportunities for the community to learn about and understand what this ordinance provides for housing in the coastal area. I do agree with the earlier comments that were made by Mr. Mosier. and also Mr. Rubino, that the ordinance is not necessary, that we have met the requirements that the city has been assigned by the state. So I would encourage your attention to these matters. Thank you. Appreciate it.

Thank you. Seeing no other comments, I'll bring it back up here for a motion.

Thank you, Madam Mayor. I'd like to make a motion notating some of the change to the syntax in the minutes, as well as a recusal from Councilmember Stapleton on item number 5, to real property interest, as well as my own recusals on item number 5 and 10, both related to real property interest.

Do I have a second? Seconded by Councilmember Weber. Let's go ahead and vote.

Motion carried by unanimous vote. I will read the ordinances. Ordinance number 2026-05, an ordinance of the City Council of the City of Newport Beach, California, approving an amendment to Title 21 Local Coastal Program Implementation Plan of the Newport Beach Municipal Code as modified by the California Coastal Commission to establish the Housing Opportunity Overlay Coastal Zoning District, PA 2022-0245 and PA 2024-0205. ordinance number 2026-06 an ordinance of the city council of the city of newport beach california adding chapter 5.55 retailer businesses to title 5 business licenses and regulations and amending title 20 planning and zoning of the newport beach municipal code related to operation of new tobacco retailer businesses and the relocation or physical expansion of existing tobacco retailer businesses also known as smoke shops

Thank you, Madam Clerk. We'll now move on to public hearings. Item number 19, resolution number 202640, fiscal year 2026-27, budget adoption, city budget hearing, and recommendations from the Finance Committee. We obviously had a big discussion on this last council meeting. Mr. Jurgis, do we have a brief staff report?

Thank you, Madam Mayor. This year is a robust balanced budget with $477 million in operating expense with an additional $49 million allocated to our capital budget. We continue to strengthen and support our public safety staff and departments. In addition, we continue to pay down our pension liability with an aggressive pay down of $40 million plus an additional $5 million for a total of $45 million. OUR ADMINISTRATOR SERVICES DIRECTOR AND DEPUTY DIRECTOR ARE HERE TO ANSWER ANY OF THE COUNCIL'S QUESTIONS.

ANY QUESTIONS UP HERE? IT LOOKS LIKE THERE ARE NONE. WE'LL GO OUT TO THE PUBLIC FOR COMMENTS.

Mayor Kleinman, members of the council, my name again is Jim Mosier. In the lobby there was what looked like a brief presentation, which apparently we're not gonna see. I would also mention that In the staff report, it mentions many opportunities for the public to review the budget. You are, of course, considering approving a budget tonight. I would note that there isn't a copy of the budget that you will be approving in the lobby, so it's a little hard for the public to review it. They can find it electronically. I did find in the agenda packet I downloaded, it was not actually in it. The presentation would be mentioning the budget revisions, which were not in that book, even if you looked at it. One of those is $150,000 compensation program, which is in the budget resolution, allowing the city manager to award performance-based incentive compensation to city employees. I had not heard this revision was coming until I see it in the actual budget resolution and the amount here. The program doesn't seem to me to be defined performance based incentives. Usually you set some performance goal and you might get compensated if you reach that goal. It's not clear that that is this because it just be can be awarded for any extraordinary contribution to the city. And how many of these can be awarded is not clear. So it's never been in any previous budget before, and I don't know where that came from. Also, there's a new Section 9 in the budget, which I really also did not quite understand, giving the city manager and the risk manager apparently authority outside of the budget to settle all sorts of claims and disputes. up to and again how many, what the conditions are for doing this is not defined. I cannot understand in here exactly how much they're allowed to award 40 or 30% of something, the city's self-insured retention. Does that go down as you make these awards? Is there a limit to how many awards can be taken? And then it says either that or the respective council approved contracting authority, whichever is greater. Is it supposed to be greater or is it supposed to be less? I don't know. There's never been a provision like this, as far as I know, in any previous budget resolution. That's not been discussed. It's not mentioned in the staff report. And then finally, I think we need to acknowledge this is the time in which you would be approving the $1.5 million allocation for the police headquarters. Replacement, how that will be used has not been well defined and I would just suggest Coming soon, you will be making appointments to the ad hoc committee, and at the time you do that, you might be defining what this allocation can be used for. Thank you, Mr. Harp. I thought the mayor ran the meeting, not the city attorney. Thank you.

Adam Leverins, speaking as kind of a fiscally conservative-minded individual. Just looking through the staff materials, fiscal year 27 proposed expenditures by category. I'll note that the largest category is salary and benefits at $205,052,000 and change. that's 34 times the expenditure by category for maintenance and repair 247% times capital expenditures and 43 times general expenses. Um, under agenda item nine, you gave the police and fire chief a $23,000 a year pay increase. I'm, I'm highly respect both those gentlemen and think they do great work, but This is a wonderful place to be a civil servant, temperate climate, generally low crime. When comparisons are made, or Mr. Jurgis, well, we might lose them to somebody else. I hope people factor in how great of a place this is to work, great of a city this is to work for. And I doubt that some of these people are going to leave and go work in some less desirable areas. And just as far as protecting the taxpayers, it's crazy. But I used to tell my employer I didn't need a raise. I mean, how much is enough? At some point, just I hope people can really appreciate the value of this community and being here. And just that number, $205,052,000, the greatest expense of taxpayer funds, I just think that needs to be contemplated and reflected on. Thank you.

Any other public comments at this time? Seeing none, I'll go ahead and close the public hearing. Are there any additional comments or a motion up here?

Thank you, Madam Mayor. I'd love to make a motion on this and also with one caveat that the most important thing in this entire city are the people and the services. And so yes, we do spend the most money on the most important thing and we will continue to. So thank you very much for that. I'd like to move staff recommendation. Thank you.

Do we have a second? Seconded by Council Member Stapleton. Let's go ahead and vote. Motion carried by unanimous vote. Before moving on to item number 20, do any council members have a conflict related to this item?

Yes, I would like to recuse myself due to financial interest in the telecom industry.

Item number 20 ordinance number 2026-07 updating titles 20 planning and zoning and 13 street sidewalks and public property related to personal wireless services facilities and resolution number 2026-41 authorizing the submission of a local coastal program amendment. Mr. Jurgis, do we have a staff report?

We do. Thank you, Madam Mayor. So we're excited to bring this item forward to you. We've heard a lot of concerns from the community, concerns from the council about the challenges with our cell phone coverage and carrier coverage. So we have worked to change our ordinance to make it more permissible. I'm going to hand it over to Deputy City Manager Ben Zadiba. Community Development Director Jaime Maria is also here tonight. So go ahead, Ben.

Thank you, Simone. Appreciate that. Good afternoon, Madam Mayor and Council Members. Ben Zediba, Deputy City Manager. While the presentation is coming up, I do have Jose Montoya on the slide, a Deputy City Attorney. I wanted to acknowledge that he put in a lot of effort on this component, although he's not here with me this evening. So this could have easily been 15 slides, but I condensed it into one. There is a very large legal framework through federal and state regulations on wireless telecommunications facilities. I highlighted that, namely, you get a lot of concerns about health and safety impacts, and the city is not able to regulate based on those. If a facility complies with Federal Communications Commission standards, then the city cannot impose anything further. There's also a 2018 small cell order wherein the FCC provided federal regulations that encouraged and limited what cities could do on small cell deployment. Another thing I will highlight is that the city can have police power over cellular facilities as long as we're not effectively prohibiting service with our regulations or permits. On the bottom, one thing I do want to note too is that there are very stringent shot clocks for review of wireless facility applications. If the city fails to perform within these shot clocks, an application is deemed automatically approved. That said, the city last comprehensively updated our wireless ordinance in 2014. A lot has changed, obviously, since that time. Notably, we've had a bigger shift in wireless use from voice to data. The image on the right aptly shows that we even have vehicles relying on data these days. And at the top, that's supposed to represent that people have home security systems that rely on data as well. there is a lot of reliance on bandwidth and so that shows the importance of the city being able to be conducive to connectivity throughout the community. Challenges in Newport Beach. I've shown this slide before. Nearly half of the city's land area is in the coastal zone, which adds additional regulations and development standards that make it incredibly challenging for carriers to locate on existing buildings. As noted, there are limited private structures that are viable as locations. And we also currently have a complex permitting entitlement process. Namely, every single public right-of-way installation requires the approval of a minor use permit. and maybe a coastal development permit if it is in the coastal zone. Naturally, in a coastal city like Newport Beach, there are higher site and deployment costs as well that factor in, and with the risk involved, makes it less attractive for a carrier to invest in our community. Brief background on where we've come. We started in 2021. You'll notice that is quite some time ago, but that was shortly after the small cell order was issued. City staff anticipated an onslaught of small cell applications. City staff comprehensively reviewed the adopted framework and determined that it was appropriately working, but was continuing to monitor how the different regulations were impacting carriers. Fast forward to the study session recently earlier this year. Staff presented a three-pronged approach where we talked about policy updates, which you've already enacted, code updates, and potential partnerships. Council did support code and policy updates. Recently, March 5th, we brought the approach that we'll present to you this evening to the planning commission and did receive support. Namely, I recall one planning commissioner talked about being excited that he no longer had to stand on his tippy toes by his window to take a phone call. We did have also some reservations expressed regarding the city exempting itself from the chapters on city hall, or not city hall, but city property installations. But at the end of the day, the Planning Commission unanimously recommended city council approval without changes. So our approach to the update is currently Title 20 and 21 broadly regulate wireless service facilities. Our approach is to create a new Chapter 13.22, which moves public right-of-way installations, namely to Title 13, which is streets, sidewalks, and public property. This follows a common model in other jurisdictions where the Public Works Department is the primary reviewer and permit issuer for public right-of-way facilities. It makes sense it's in the right-of-way. It's not a zoning matter. Public right-of-way facilities in our proposed approach would only require discretionary approval if it's a brand-new pole in a new location or if the location is in a sensitive area or area of the coastal zone that would require a coastal development permit. So therein, our approach is to streamline replacement of existing streetlight poles with new streetlight poles in the same location or similar location that have small cell infrastructure. We're just going to highlight some code updates or some components of the new Chapter 13.22. Namely, this would authorize the Public Works Director to publish and update standards, forms, and other regulations. You'll see a little preview of what that document might look like on the right. This is a critical piece to this approach. Telecom and wireless landscape changes very frequently. We see new technology coming online that would require us to change our design standards or perhaps we have unintended Unintended consequences with deployment that we need to remedy very quickly This would allow the public works director to work to modify and republish these standards Agile II outside of the municipal code. I Would note that this still requires a license agreement from the city So there is no opportunity for a carrier to circumvent the city's review and approval of a location on a street light or street pole I also highlight that again, replacement poles are intentionally streamlined, whereas new poles and new locations are allowed through a discretionary process, therein being discouraged. We're really trying to limit the impact to any sort of aesthetic or compatibility issues in the community. And lastly, as I alluded to earlier, the city cannot regulate wireless service facilities based on health and safety standards, but we can require proof that they do comply with the FCC RF compliance requirements. As far as our existing chapters, the biggest change again is taking out Class 3, which is the public right-of-way installations, and moving it to its own chapter. We are looking to clarify the approval process for stealth facilities. Today, city staff receives an inquiry on a stealth facility, which is something that is really supposed to be undetectable by those who wouldn't know that it's there otherwise. So I'm talking about someone who is not familiar with wireless infrastructure. We're talking faux chimney structure on a building or perhaps an architectural feature that actually has antennas inside of it. We allow that currently by right through the building permit process, and so this is clarifying and making sure that's very clear. Also, we get a lot of confusion on height limits. To be clear, the proposal is not changing the height limit. Rather, we are clarifying which height limit applies to telecom facilities. Again, we are looking to exempt installations on city-owned and city-held trust properties from the scope of these chapters. And then another one that we're looking to interject is allowing temporary installations to be processed administratively if you have a construction project that would affect a permanent facility. So for example, Bay Shores Hotel on the peninsula had facilities in it. This would allow them to put up a temporary facility while that permanent facility is being taken offline, therefore not impacting coverage. It's allowed through the building permit process administratively. I just want to give an example of the process under the proposed code. So here you'd have a carrier who wishes to locate antennas on existing city streetlight poles. The carrier would execute a master license agreement with the city using a template, and there would be no changes to the terms proposed. And then once sites are identified, the carrier would execute amendments to the MLA to identify the locations that are approved by the city with the appropriate design standards. And then the carrier would be able to pull encroachment permits for each of those installations Ultimately, what you see on the right, this is an actual image in the field. That's the construction detail that was used. So you'll see that if they follow the city's authorized construction details, they take no exceptions to the master license agreement. This can be a very easy and streamlined process, especially outside of the coastal zone. This is a point of confusion that we received after the Planning Commission hearing. Residents were concerned that this code update was going to authorize faux trees or monopoles on private property without any sort of public carrier notice. So this is a clarification that there is no intended change to that process. If a carrier wanted to come in and install a monopole or a faux tree on private property, That application would be publicly noticed to be taken to a planning commission hearing for a conditional use permit and be subject to appeal. If that appeal period passed and was approved, the carrier can then pull construction permits. The city's not a party to that agreement. It's on private property. Again, a very different process that remains unchanged through this update. So a couple of key takeaways again, the proposed updates really aimed to streamline facilities in the public right away with protection of the community carrier character and visual quality in mind. Again, that's because we are really emphasizing and encouraging carriers to use replacement of existing streetlight poles and existing locations. And then again, we're not looking to change the process regulations on private property. We're looking to refresh them, but we're not materially changing them. And if you take the recommended action this evening to introduce the ordinance and to adopt the resolution authorizing our LCPA amendment, we'd be taking this back to City Council's second reading at your next meeting. We'd look to bring a master license agreement template forward for your approval. as well as sharing the standards document that was referenced from the Public Works Director. We would then shortly submit the LCPA to the Coastal Commission for review. Again, highlighting that if you were to adopt this and it becomes effective, it would be effective in parts of the city that are not in the coastal zone, and the implementation within the coastal zone would be delayed. We would be subject to Coastal Commission review and approval at that point. And then just a related piece, we're looking in July to bring new fees coming forward for wireless facility permits related to the code amendment update, especially related to Chapter 13. So that concludes my presentation. I'm available for any questions. Thank you.

Thank you, Ben. I really appreciate all the work that you and the team have done on this crafting something that streamlines applications outside of residential areas for much needed cellular infrastructure to address the major coverage gaps that we have throughout the city. Any comments up here? Seeing none, I will open the public hearing. Do we have any comments?

Mayor Kleinman, members of the council, my name again is Jim Mosher. And I spent several hours today trying to understand what it is you're being asked to approve. It was very difficult to get my mind around this. The agenda item consists of 221 pages of rather technical information. Electronically, it's spread over 11 different files. There are frequent references to something that I do not know what it is, which is section 6409, subsection A, applications. I'm sure you know what that is. I do not. Some of this, we heard, was reviewed and recommended to you by the Planning Commission. I would point out the Planning Commission did not look at the Title 13 chapter that is entirely new and very lengthy. Also, the ordinance that they recommended to you is not the ordinance you're seeing tonight. If you look at Attachment C, which is the Planning Commission resolution, you'll see that it consists of 14 sections within the proposed chapter 2049. And if you look at exhibit B of the attachment A, which is the one that you are being asked to approve, it has 10 rather than 14 sections in it. Some pieces were moved, apparently. Some pieces were taken out. I don't know quite what has happened to it. The bottom line is that this is removing any public process at all. for the approval of applications from cell carriers to make installations outside the coastal zone anywhere in the public right-of-way or anything that the city staff deems to be a stealth installation. There is no opportunity to challenge their determination that something is a stealth operation. And within the public right-of-way, we were told there was still going to be a discretionary approval if a new poll is proposed somewhere that's not already an existing city poll. What I read is that the discretionary decision is made by the city staff, and the only person who has any opportunity to appeal it is the telecom applicant. And the public will not even be aware that that process is going on within the city staff. And then finally, there's a whole class of applications that have no process whatsoever, no standards whatsoever, which is outside the coastal zone on any public property, such as a public park, such as the Civic Center Park out here, which is neither a right of way nor and it is newly exempted from our Title 20 standards that we have. So there is no standard, no process whatever for that except the issuance of a license which the public may not come to you and the public will never know about until the thing is built. I think that's a problem. Thank you.

Any other speakers on this item? Seeing none, I will close the public hearing. Any other comments or questions up here or a motion?

Thank you, Madam Mayor. I'm happy to make the motion, moving staff recommendation on this and getting better cell phone coverage throughout Newport Beach.

I will second that. Let's go ahead and vote. motion carried by unanimous vote with council member weigand recused moving on to item number 21 resolution number 2026-42 and 2026-43 adoption of the 2025 urban water management plan and 2025 water shortage contingency plan mr jurgis do we have a staff report

Thank you, Madam Mayor. I'm going to turn it over to Utilities Director Mark Vigoyevich for his brief comments.

Thank you, Mayor and City Council Members. This is a once every five years report which outlines our city's water reliability for now and into the future. It is a state-required report, but basically it's asking this question. Do we have confidence where we stand for our water supply needs now and into the future? And so this detailed report has gone through that. And we do have a plan and we do have a high level of confidence in our water system and where we're going to get our water. And as we know, we're investing into additional groundwater wells and that's going to provide the additional reliability that we need to. The plan also talks about what do we do for droughts and shortages, how do we handle water conservation, and so on. And the document outlines all of that, and this is a public hearing request to see if there's any additional comments. And if approved, then we'll send this on to the state. Thank you.

Thank you. Any questions or comments up here? Okay, seeing none, we will open up the public hearing. Any comments from the public? Okay, seeing none, I will, oh, Mr. Moser.

Mayor Kleinman, members of the council, my name is Jim Moser. As I explained in writing, I did not have time to read these reports. I think they would be interesting to read. I gather that it says we have a plan for droughts. As we know from the experience they had in Los Angeles with the Palisades fires last year, water is also used for fire prevention. And there's a question about how adequate our water supply is for that use. There were complaints in LA that that city was not prepared when all the fire hydrants were turned on in that area. There was not enough water supply to supply all of them at once. I have since heard that water systems are not designed to do that. So in no city, if you turned on all the fire hydrants at once, would you have adequate supply from any of them. I am curious whether this report addresses that and whether what I heard is correct. We do have potential for fire. How many fire hydrants can we turn on at one time and still have water supply? Thank you.

Thank you. Any other speakers? Seeing none, I will close the public hearing and bring it back up here. Any questions, comments, or a motion?

I'LL MAKE A MOTION. I'M VERY CONFIDENT IN OUR STAFF WITH UTILITY'S DIRECTOR, ORANGE COUNTY WATER DISTRICT, THAT WE HAVE ADEQUATE WATER SUPPLIES FOR THIS CITY AND THIS REGION, FOR THAT MATTER. AND MR. VIKOVIC GAVE US A THOROUGH PRESENTATION AFTER THE PALISADES FIRE ABOUT our triple redundancies in the city when it comes to fighting fire and utilizing our fire equipment chief boils has done the same so i'm more than confident in the city's ability we are not la by any stretch and newport does things how newport does things and we have plenty of water to do so so i'll move this item we have a motion do we have a second seconded by mayor potent blom let's go ahead and vote

Motion carried by unanimous vote 7, 0.

We'll now move on to current business. Item number 22 relates to the annual appointments to boards and commissions. Are there any council member comments on this item? Seeing none, we'll go out to public comments.

Adam Leverance speaking primarily about Harbor Commission applicants because that's what I'm most familiar with last year I recall When those appointments were made I was able to look through all the applicants and come here and speak and offer support for those i thought might be good choices as i recall there was two attorneys and i thought the harbor commission could have benefited from having an attorney on that commission council thought otherwise apparently but this year it looks like the only applicants i can look at in the agenda materials are equal to the number of vacancies if i understand correctly there's been a policy change where some other group or party is advancing to counsel the chosen ones to fill the vacancies. And I find this incredibly disturbing and what I thought was the year of transparency. And there's been a number of other things that I have found incredibly disturbing in the year of transparency. And I hope we don't continue down this path. Thank you.

Any other comments on this item?

Mayor Kleinman, members of the council, my name once again is Jim Mosier and I share Mr. Leverance's concern about this. The public has at least seen the council vote on two candidates for each, two nominees for each vacant position. Apparently tonight there is going to be no voting other than ratification of appointments that were made privately by a committee. with no public process again as to how the decisions were made or what other options were available. And apparently giving the four members who are not on the committee. I don't know. I've not heard any input here. We're going to face a similar process, I think, in the near future when we come to the appointments to the ad hoc police headquarters replacement committee, which we're going to be selected by the mayor and confirmed by the council. And we heard in that confirmation process that the council members might be proposing substitute nominations of their own. I'm a little disappointed here. I think you probably had many candidates. None of the council members who are not on the appointing committee seem to be providing any alternative choices to you. Maybe that's going to happen. I don't know. BUT IT'S DISAPPOINTING TO SEE NO PUBLIC VOTE ON ANYTHING. NOT EVEN INDICATION HOW MANY CANDIDATES YOU HAD FOR ANY OF THESE APPOINTMENTS. SO IT'S VERY DISAPPOINTING. THANK YOU.

ANY OTHER SPEAKERS ON THIS ITEM? SEEING NONE, I WILL BRING IT BACK UP HERE. DO WE HAVE ANY OTHER QUESTIONS, COMMENTS, OR A MOTION? COUNCILMEMBER WIGAN.

THE PROCESS CHANGED. WE ALL SUPPORTED I THINK AN A2 CHANGE ON THIS A WHILE BACK. IT DOESN'T CHANGE ANYTHING OTHER THAN THE FACT THAT WE DON'T HAVE TWO MEETINGS TO DO THIS. WE STILL HAVE A COUNCIL SUBCOMMITTEE THAT INTERVIEWS THE APPLICANTS. THEY MAKE THEIR RECOMMENDATIONS. THOSE RECOMMENDATIONS ARE HERE. THEN THAT ALLOWS ME TO ASK OUR who applied, I still can see all the applicants of every single person who applied. And if I wish to bring forth as a council member who didn't sit on that committee, a list of somebody who I want to entertain. And in fact, we've done that in the past utilizing the two meeting process. This just is a different way of doing the same thing. But I don't think anything in here, excuse me, differs than what we've done in the past other than not having a second meeting. There's still a subcommittee. They're making their recommendations. I, as a council member, had the opportunity to put forth a new name and bring it to the committee. In fact, I almost did so this evening, but I decided against it, speaking with the applicant. I think the process is very similar to before. It's still an open public meeting that we as a council have the opportunity to pull or add additional names to. So I support the recommended item and we'll make the motion to approve it.

We have a motion. Do we have a second?

I'm happy to second, Madam Mayor.

Seconded by Mayor Potemblon. Let's go ahead and vote.

Motion carried by unanimous vote, 7-0.

Madam Clerk, please read statement on motions for reconsideration.

A motion to reconsider the vote on any action taken by the City Council at either this meeting or the previous meeting may be made only by one of the Council members who voted with the prevailing side.

Are there any motions for reconsideration? Hearing none we will move on to public. Comments on closed session before we do that are there any conflicts to report on close session items.

Yeah, I do on a close session item be the first I subsection be one I guess we'll call it. This is the stewardship number be stewardship Association for city of Newport Beach. I have a conflict based on my interest in 4100 and 4110 MacArthur.

And I have a conflict regarding the Newport Beach Stewardship Association versus City of Newport Beach case from 2024 that's on appeal based on my husband's business dealings with Mr. Shopoff on projects outside of the city. Are there any public comments on closed session items? Seeing none, Mr. Harp, please announce our closed session items.

Thank you, Mayor. The City Council will adjourn a closed session to meet with legal counsel regarding the initiation of litigation for one matter as well as two litigation cases titled Newport Beach Stewardship Association versus Newport Beach, and one litigation matter titled Newport Beach versus Newport Beach Stewardship Association. And that's all on the agenda under item number 7A and B.

We are now recessed to closed session. Mr. Harp, is there a closed session report?

Yes, thank you, Mayor. Regarding agenda item number 7A, initiation of litigation, a motion was made by Mayor Pruitt-Temblom, seconded by Council Member Wagon, to authorize the city attorney to initiate litigation. All council members voted in favor of the motion. The action, the defendants, and other particulars shall be disclosed to any person upon inquiry once the litigation has formally been commenced. Thank you.

With that, we are adjourned.