City Council - Regular Meeting

now wave wave what letter does the wave begin what wave begin with w very good when you guys are at the beach i would like you to wave at the lifeguards come talk to us come check in genesis is sitting there with her fins and her buoy and she wants to say hi to you guys she wants to tell you if it's safe to go on the water all right speaking of the water i need you guys to repeat after me here okay i need you guys to repeat after me never Swim. Swim. Alone. Alone. Sorry, guys. We've been lifeguarding a long time. We got a lot of sunscreen and sand in our ears. I couldn't hear you. I need you to say it again. Never.

Never. Swim. Swim.

Alone.

Alone.

Now whisper it to a friend.

Never, never swim alone.

Now I want you guys to shout it as loud as you can so everyone in Newport Beach can hear you down at the beach that we work. On the count of three, we're all going to shout it together. One, two, three. Never swim alone. Very good, you guys. We never swim alone. Who's ever been in the ocean before? Who's ever been in a pool? What about a jacuzzi, a spa, maybe a sink, a bathtub? What about a dirty puddle? No, no, no, no. Don't get in the dirty puddles, you guys. Don't get in the dirty puddles. Damn, gross. Anytime you guys are near water, you never swim alone. You always go with a trusted adult, okay? Always go with a trusted adult. Should we go to the beach?

Yeah, let's go to the beach. What do you say?

Should we go to the beach? Yeah! All right, everyone stand up. Let's go to the beach. all right well i don't know if we can fit you all in our truck so we're gonna have to go to the imaginary beach so let's start walking let's start walking we gotta walk to the beach we're walking stop stop stop you guys we don't have what we need to go to the beach let's let's get out our backpack let's get our backpack let's unzip our backpack what should we put in our backpack i need hands up i need someone to raise your hand what should we bring to the beach

Sunscreen. All right, everyone grab your bottle of sunscreen.

Take off the cap. Put it in your hand. All right, take some sunscreen. Where do we put sunscreen?

On our face.

Not on our tongue, on our face. Good. Get your nose. Get your ears. Get your shoulders. Get your arms. Get your back. Get your legs. Now put it all over. Put it all over.

But I love it.

Very good. So we wear sunscreen to protect us from the sun, right? When we're at the beach, we don't want to get sunburned, so we wear sunscreen to protect us. All right, put in your backpack now. Sunscreen in your backpack. Backpack on.

Let's walk to the beach. Do we have everything we need?

Oh, we're not ready yet. We're not ready. All right, I need a hand up. What else should we bring to the beach with us? What should we bring?

We should bring, like, food supplies if we get hungry.

That's a great idea. Who can name a healthy food snack that we could take to the beach with us that maybe begins with the letter W?

It begins with the letter W. It's a great beach snack. Blue shirt.

Blue shirt, glasses. Watermelon. All right, let's go. Let's find the biggest watermelon we can. Let's pick it up. Let's pick it up. Oh, no.

It's in our backpack.

Uh-oh. Yours might have broken. Make sure it didn't break. No, we're OK. It didn't break. OK. OK, so we have our watermelon. Maybe let's bring somebody a drink that also begins with the letter W. Something healthy that begins with the letter W. What can we bring? Water! Let's all grab our bottle of water. Take the top off. Take a sip of it. Glug, glug, glug, glug. I can't hear you guys drinking your water. Glug, glug, glug, glug, glug, glug. All right, let's put the cap back on. Let's put it in our backpack. All right, backpack's on. We have a snack. We have a healthy snack. We have our sunscreen. Are we good to go to the beach? No! Oh, my gosh. We need someone to help us. What do we bring to the beach?

What do we bring to the beach? Black shirt. A bathing suit. A bathing suit.

All right, let's put on our bathing suits. Because we don't want to swim in sweatshirts and jeans, OK? That weighs us down in the water. We want to swim in a bathing suit, OK? So put on our bathing suit. OK. Let's go to the beach. You guys, we forgot your backpack. Pick up your backpack. All right, let's go to the beach.

Nope.

Good afternoon, everyone. The time is four o'clock and I call to order the June 23rd City Council meeting. Now is the time for the invocation that will be led by Reverend Canon, Dr. George Okusi, St. John, the Divine Episcopal Church. Following that, we will have the Pledge of Allegiance by Council Member Bartow.

Let us pray. Our Heavenly Father, we come before you as a council for this great city of Newport Beach. As we gather here to look at issues affecting our people, we call upon you to abide with us. May you help us and fill us with your wisdom and knowledge so that we can be able to lead your people well. Thank you for this far we have come, and we pray that you will take us far during the year. Almighty God, send down upon those who hold offices in this city, from the mayor, the manager, and all the departments, the spirit of wisdom, charity, and justice, that with steadfast purpose, they may faithfully always serve in their offices to promote the well-being of all people. We hope the city, the state, and the national government will work together and make life easier for everyone. For in reality, life has become very expensive. We look at the food prices and the gas, everything is up. God of love, we do not rely on ourselves for effective results, for we are only human and often make mistakes. We acknowledge you in all our ways and in all our meetings so that you will direct our path. Be with us now as we begin this meeting until we are done, for we pray, believing in your mighty name. Amen. Amen.

As we approach the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, please join me in the Pledge of Allegiance. Place your right hand over your heart.

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 now move right into presentations. Tonight is my honor to recognize a remarkable group of student athletes whose perseverance, leadership, and commitment to one another culminated in a championship season and brought great pride to our community, the Newport Harbor High School Sailors Baseball Team. Team and coach. You want to send a few up? I don't know if you're all coming up. I'm going to read the proclamation, then we'll come up after and do a photo. Whereas the Newport Harbor High School baseball team, known as the Sailors, demonstrated exceptional dedication, sportsmanship, and teamwork throughout the season. And whereas the Sailors completed an outstanding campaign with 25-10 record and concluded their season in championship fashion by defeating Bakersfield Christian by a score of 5-1 to win the CIF Southern California Regional Division II title. And whereas the regional title game reflected total team effort and preparation highlighted by a combined... Pitching performance that limited baseball Christian to three hits with Captain Ryan Williams starting Grant Harsley providing key relief and Captain Gavin Guy closing the final innings with composure and command. And whereas this season also exemplified the meaning of sacrifice and leadership embodied by Captain Ryan Williams who persevered through a torn and continued contributing to his teammates' pursuit of a title, placing the goal towards the team above individual circumstance. And whereas the Sailors were led by Captains Ryan Williams, Gavin Guy, and Brooks Francis, whose leadership and long-standing bond strengthened the program's sense of brotherhood and set a standard for future student athletes. And whereas head coach Josh Lee and the coaching staff fostered a program rooted in culture, accountability, and unity, earning respect across the baseball community and reinforcing the sustained excellence. It's built when players buy in and put others before themselves. Now, therefore, I, Lauren Kleiman, Mayor of the City of Newport Beach, on behalf of the entire Newport Beach City Council, do hereby recognize and honor Newport Harbor High School baseball team. Does anyone want to say a few words before we get that photo? Where's that leadership? Come on, guys.

All right. I wasn't made aware that I was speaking today, but I just want to thank you guys all for having us. You know, it was it was a great year for all of us. I've been a four year varsity player and leaving these guys can be very hard, but I'm very happy we can go out on a great note winning a championship. And I'm just super grateful for all my coaches, my captains that helped me lead. And I'm just grateful for this team. And thank you again for having us.

Great. Everybody come on up to the front of the diets here.

We're going to get a photo. You gotta switch it a little bit more. Keep going. All right, everybody looking right here.

Ready, one, two, three. All right, one more, guys. Ready?

You guys want to hear the rest of the city council meeting?

If not, we can wait. We're all out, right?

Okay. We're gonna now go ahead and move into our study session, the results of the REAP 2.0 mixed use study. And before we begin, do any council members have any conflicts of interest to announce?

Oh, that was just directed at me. Yes, I have a couple of conflicts on this one. 417 30th and 501 30th for real property interests and 224 Marine for real property interests. Thank you so.

OK, I will now turn it over to our city manager.

Thank you, Madam Mayor and city council members. Both our housing element and city council policy look towards with policies to reduce the barriers to housing in our mixed zone uses. The council authorized staff to apply for a grant program. We hired an outside consultant. We did a study of the mixed use zones. And tonight is the results of that study of how to reduce the barriers for housing in those mixed-use areas and how to incentivize these property owners to redevelop on those mixed-use zone properties. I'm going to turn it over to Liz and Jerry here in a moment. At the end of this presentation, there are some recommendations we'd love to hear from you. Do you want us to move forward with recommendations and amend the code, or would you like us to wait a little longer and get through some of the other planning projects that we're working on? So your feedback will be very important. Turn it over to Liz.

Good evening, Mayor Kleinman, City Council members, Liz Westmoreland, Deputy Director of the Community Development Department, and as Simone mentioned, I'm joined by Jerry Oregi, Assistant Planner. We're pleased to present the results of the REAP 2.0 mixed-use study with you. First, a quick background to add on to what Simone stated previously is the Regional Early Action Planning Program is a state-led program that provide grants funds to jurisdictions. And so in this case, the grant funds were issued to the Orange County Council of Governments. And they created a consulting bench to assist member agencies such as the city in COMPLETING HOUSING ELEMENT IMPLEMENTATION PROGRAMS. SO THE CITY WAS SELECTED FOR ESSENTIALLY FREE CONSULTING ASSISTANCE TO COMPLETE THE HOUSING ELEMENT POLICY ACTION 4H REVIEW OF MIXED USE ZONES. THIS WAS INTENDED TO IDENTIFY ANY REGULATORY CONSTRAINTS FOR MIXED USE DEVELOPMENT AND THEN RECOMMEND POLICY OR CODE CHANGES THAT WOULD ASSIST IN ENCOURAGING INFIL HOUSING. SO THE FOCUS OF THE STUDIES ON HOUSING. A LITTLE BIT OF BACKGROUND ON THE CITY'S MIXED USE ZONING DISTRICT. BACK IN 2006 THE CITY ESTABLISHED LAND USE DESIGNATIONS THROUGHOUT THE CITY PRIMARILY ALONG THE HARBOR AREA TO ALLOW FOR MIXED USE DEVELOPMENT. IN 2010 THE CITY ESTABLISHED ZONING TO ACTUALLY BUILD AND and implement these mixed-use opportunities. And so at that time, we expected to see a substantial amount of investment in these areas, and that simply has not occurred. And so this study is intended to identify what barriers might be and if they are governmental or non-governmental in nature. As shown on this slide, most of the districts are in the coastal zone. The mixed-use study, first we will be identifying what is the review process like and what does it take to get a project approved in a mixed-use district. Then looking at the development standards, height, setback, floor area, is that a limitation? And so what we've done is prepare with the support of the consultant test studies in these various districts and complete an economic feasibility analysis for each one. Back in May, we shared the results with the Planning Commission and received some great feedback from them. And then tonight, presenting to the City Council, that will complete our obligation under the grant funding. So the city is not obligated to implement any of the recommendations tonight. And with that, I'll hand it off to Jerry.

Thank you, Liz. So as part of understanding whether there may be some issues in our current zoning, staff and the consultant did prepare conceptual projects at three different locations. And so that we were able to determine what types of projects can be built at these locations with the current zoning. uh zoning requirements and are these uh projects financially feasible and so these are the three different locations throughout the city uh there were uh three different mixed use projects that were developed using conceptual renderings all of which include commercial spaces on that first floor and residential units above and so through this analysis staff was able to determine a variety of conclusions this is the floor plan of one of the those conceptual projects ultimately because of the various small lot sizes that the city has within the newport harbor area commercial parking is physically infeasible to be provided on site only the residential portion can be parked AND SO THAT REQUIRES A DEVELOPER TO APPLY FOR A PARKING WAIVER WHICH FROM THEIR PERSPECTIVE COULD IMPACT THE PROJECT FEASIBILITY AND REQUIRE ADDITIONAL FEES. ALSO THERE'S BECAUSE AGAIN OF THOSE SMALL LOT SIZES COMMON OPEN SPACE CAN BE QUITE INEFFICIENT ON THESE PROPERTIES AND OVERALL THERE'S LIMITED AREAS THAT ARE CONSIDERED RENOVABLE AREA WHICH ARE are those revenue generating areas. Through this analysis, staff to determine that each of these three projects at those locations were not financially viable. This is likely one of the reasons why the city has not seen the level of mixed-use investment throughout these different areas since the implementation of these zones back in 2010. And so staff did prepare or did recommend a variety of different solutions and recommendations for the council to consider. One of which administrative approval process for smaller mixed use projects that are lower impact. And so this would streamline those smaller projects that are mixed use. Also increasing density because of those smaller properties that exist in these mixed use areas. Many of the properties can only be developed with one residential unit. under the current zoning and so allowing a minimum of two units for those properties would allow additional units and potentially more financially feasible for a developer. Also, several recommendations regarding parking, establishing bedroom-based parking requirements. So this is something that the city already has as part of the housing overlays. And so this would encourage smaller units, which would require less parking. Under our current code requirements, a 3,000 square foot house requires the same amount of parking as a 400 square foot studio. And so there is an opportunity there to provide more specific parking requirements for this mixed-use context. there's also a recommendation to waive non-residential parking and only for certain uses and so the city could incentivize resident and visitor serving uses and not necessarily apply this waiver to destination uses and so the city already has a similar provision within bubble village which has been successful And staff also did consider potentially a recommendation to waive all of the parking requirements for non-residential and for residential. However, because we are a coastal city and many of these zones are located in the coastal zone, there would be issues with coastal access. And so staff was ultimately not supportive of those recommendations. There's also recommendations regarding increasing the height within the mixed-use Dover-Westcliff area, which is the only mixed-use zone that's outside of the coastal zone. And that height is currently already allowed through a discretionary review process. And given its context, staff did believe that this height would be appropriate. Uh, in that area, uh, staff also considered, uh, but was not supportive of removing the discretionary review process, uh, for height increases in all the zones that, as I previously mentioned, uh, many of those zones are in the, in the coastal zone. So that would, uh, present some issues, uh, with the coastal act. Additional recommendations regarding bulk and scale. There is a requirement within Mariner's Mile for residential units to be set back 100 feet from Coast Highway. However, there is a mixed use project at 2510 Coast Highway, which did request a deviation from this standard. So something that the city has already seen that units be located within 100 feet. And so as long as staff believes that as long as residential units are on that second floor, it is an appropriate configuration to be located closer to Coast Highway. Regarding common open space, recommendation to only require that for projects with four or more units, as it can be very inefficient for some of these smaller properties and smaller projects. And many of these zones are already located within high resource areas with you know this close proximity to the back bay and the beach and so it's not necessarily Beneficial to have this requirement staff did also Rec Consider increasing the floor area ratio for residential However, ultimately we're not supportive of that as staff believe that this would likely result in larger units and not necessarily additional units And then finally, quite a unique recommendation regarding redefining non-residential uses, specifically for affordable housing projects. And so this would allow for resident serving uses to fulfill that commercial requirement for mixed use and including the gyms and community rooms. And so that would allow those areas to maintain like an active and pedestrian oriented frontage, but specifically would address some of the financing issues that mixed use affordable housing projects can face. The Planning Commission did have a study session regarding this item last month, and so the Commission did provide staff with valuable feedback regarding these recommendations, as long as additional recommendations, including considering residential only within more of the mixed-use districts. Currently, it is allowed within one of the six. Also suggesting that a minimum of 50% of the floor area of a mixed use project be for residential in order to consider any sort of commercial parking waiver. Also considering expanding the mixed use zones, having more properties have mixed use zoning. But the commission also did caution staff against parking waivers as some of these areas may have limited parking. They were supportive of removing the common open space requirements. and also direct staff to more specifically itemize land costs within the economic feasibility analysis, just to paint a better picture on how our current zoning may not produce projects that are financially viable. And so with that, staff is seeking Council's direction regarding the possible implementation of some of these recommendations. And as Simone mentioned, if Council is supportive of some of these recommendations, staff can return at a future meeting with the resolution to initiate amendments to the zoning code, where staff would look further into these recommendations as well as work with the community and conduct a direct outreach with the community. So with that, that concludes our presentation, and we're happy to answer any questions.

Thank you for that presentation, Council Member Weigand.

YEAH, THANK YOU FOR THE PRESENTATION. DO YOU HAVE HISTORICAL INFORMATION AS FAR AS WHEN THESE DIFFERENT ZONES WERE CREATED, MIXED USE? SO I THINK WHEN MAYOR KLEIMAN AND I WERE ON THE PLANNING COMMISSION, THE DOVER WEST CLIFF GOT CONVERTED FROM OFFICE TO MIXED USE. I WANT TO THINK A COUPLE OF YEARS, OBVIOUSLY WE'RE ALMOST FOUR YEARS ON HERE ON COUNCIL NOW, SO I WOULD SAY THAT WOULD BE six years plus. How about the other zones? When were they created for mix use?

Thank you, Councilmember Wagon. The zones were created back in 2010 for all of these areas. Previously to 2010, some of these areas did have specific plans that allowed for mixed use. For example, Cannery Village had a large mixed use project that's been built there as well as some others. Mariner's Mile, for example, did not have a mixed use component. So there is some variety there, but they all came about in 2010 with this specific zoning.

WHAT WAS THE ITEM THAT YOU REMEMBER THAT WE ON PLANNING COMMISSION SUPPORTED? IT WAS KIND OF A SPLIT VOTE. I REMEMBER MYSELF MAYBE NOT VOTING FOR IT. MY HISTORY SERVES ME WELL. THERE WAS FOR ALL OF THOSE FROM THE LDS CHURCH TO THE CORNER OF WESTCLIFF AND DOVER. All of I think maybe the church was exempt but the rest were all approved for some for something I forget. What was that vote?

Do you remember or I'm dating myself and maybe that's hard for you just on the fly throw out there But I believe the focus of those amendments that you're referencing were to allow for more flexibility in the land uses primarily the non-residential Land uses as that section was very limited So for allowing restaurant for example was something that was not previously allowed

YOU TRIGGERED THAT. IT WAS LIKE HAVING DINING INSTEAD OF JUST OFFICE SPACE. THE MIXED USE COMPONENT COULD BE HAVING RESTAURANT AND THEN ABOVE IT HAVING RESIDENTIAL OR HAVING OFFICE AND RESIDENTIAL. I THINK THERE'S A LOT HAPPENING IN OUR CITY AS FAR AS HOUSING RIGHT NOW. I'M HESITANT TO MOVE FORWARD WITH THIS. IT SAYS THAT THE FULFILLMENT OF THE GRANT WAS SIMPLY TO PRESENT AT PLANNING COMMISSION AND THEN PRESENT AT CITY COUNCIL AND THEN THAT'S THE FULFILLMENT. How long does this information stay viable for? I mean, is this something we can just receive and file and then come back to it at a later date and, you know, another housing element, you know, change or, you know, arena requirements or any, you know, when those come back into the future. But I think it would be best for us just to focus on the stuff we've got going on. And that's certainly a lot. I don't, this is a lot happening fast. And in fact, the Planning Commission just heard an item just a couple blocks away from the specific one we're talking about here at Dover. So I really don't think that it's necessary to really dig deep any further than this. And just thank you, appreciate the grant. It's great to look at a couple of these sites to see what can be done. But I think for us, or at least in my opinion, we've got a lot on our plate. And it's best just to kind of shelve this and say thank you and put it in the file.

ARE THERE ANY OTHER QUESTIONS OR COMMENTS UP HERE BEFORE WE GO OUT FOR PUBLIC COMMENT? SEEING NONE, WE WILL OPEN IT UP. ANYONE FROM THE PUBLIC WANT TO SPEAK ON THIS ITEM?

Tangent 10 gently, uh, in reading this and the difficulties with affordable or workforce housing that we're trying to do, uh, the Newport beach housing fund was established to try to accomplish that. And we have identified, uh, potential different sources of income and also developers who are, have done this kind of product in areas with high property values. We don't want to get ahead of the council, but we do hope to work with you at a certain point to meet this very difficult state mandated challenge.

Any other comments?

Evening Council Denise Obermann, resident. I agree that we do have a lot on the plate and there is a mandate that is pretty clear both for the city and relative to what the state is ostensibly imposing and it looks like this proposes to try to superimpose or force fit what would end up being high density type of residential in an area It's already seriously constrained. So and to try to and maybe there's not going to be an alignment between fulfillment of the housing and I think at this point in time the city has a housing element in a direction and there are a couple of gaps in that. which Nancy Gardner had suggested are still being addressed relative to affordable and there are other potential and likely better areas of solution. So I commend Councilman Wiegand's suggestion to hold off on this concept for now and suggest that the council direct staff to continue with search and look elsewhere and explore the other strategies to fulfill the affordable and low income housing element. Thank you. Thank you.

Any other speakers?

Good evening, Mayor Klein and members of the city council. My name is Susan DeSantis and I am a 40 year resident of Newport Beach. I was also on the Housing Element Update Committee and on the General Plan Update Committee. First of all, I want to thank you, staff, OCCOG, and the consultant team for completing the mixed-use study. I appreciate the conclusions that many mixed-use projects in Newport Beach are not financially viable under today's rules. The report identifies several real barriers, including parking requirements, density limits, height limits, et cetera. and the uncertainty of the cost of discretionary approvals. This is all very useful information. At the same time, I think it is important to recognize what the report does and what it does not do. The report is primarily a regulatory and economic feasibility study. It tells us why certain projects may be hard to build, but it does not really show residents what successful mixed-use development should look like, how it should feel, and how it should strengthen neighborhood character. THE REPORT REFERENCES NEWPORT BEACH EXAMPLES INCLUDING THE BALBOA VILLAGE PARKING MANAGEMENT PLAN WHICH REDUCED PARKING REQUIREMENTS FOR CERTAIN NONRESIDENTIAL USES AND IT NOTES THAT MIXED USE DEVELOPMENTS CREATED IN 2010 HAVE NOT PRODUCED THE LEVEL OF REDEVELOPMENT ORIGINALLY EXPECTED. But the report does not include any case studies from other successful mixed-use communities, such as downtown Brea, this 3rd Street promenade in Santa Monica, Old Town Pasadena, or other communities where they have successfully implemented mixed-use zoning. I support the staff's recommendation to continue studying these issues and to conduct direct outreach with affected property owners. Secondly, I would encourage the city to involve residents and business owners early, especially in areas such as Corona Del Mar. Mariners Village and Marine Avenue, where neighborhood character, parking, access, and scale are extremely important. Third, I was encouraged to see that the staff does not support eliminating all non-residential parking requirements or eliminating residential parking requirements, particularly given the coastal access concerns. That seems very prudent. Fourth, I would suggest that the city organize a field learning tour for council members, commissioners, staff, property owners, and interested residents to visit successful mixed-use districts. Downtown Brea is one example where housing, retail, restaurants, public spaces, and entertainment work together in a walkable environment. Newport Beach's greatest strength is the unique character of its neighborhoods. Any future mixed-use strategy should build on that strength, not diminish it. The city has done a tremendous amount in terms of its development of a specific plan in collaboration AND I THINK IT SHOULD HAVE THE OPPORTUNITY TO MOVE FORWARD TO OPPORTUNITY TO MOVE FORWARD TO GENERATE ADDITIONAL INSIGHT INTO GENERATE ADDITIONAL INSIGHT INTO HOW THAT MIXED USE COULD EVOLVE. HOW THAT MIXED USE COULD EVOLVE. THANK YOU. THANK YOU.

SEEING NO OTHER SPEAKERS, AND SEEING NO OTHER SPEAKERS, AND I ASSUME THERE'S NONE ONLINE, I ASSUME THERE'S NONE ONLINE, MADAM CLERK? MADAM CLERK? OKAY. OKAY. WE'LL BRING IT BACK UP HERE. WE'LL BRING IT BACK UP HERE. ARE THERE ANY ADDITIONAL COMMENTS OKAY. CRICKETS, APPARENTLY. NO OTHER CHANGES?

DO YOU NEED DIRECTION OR WAS WHAT I'M SAYING AGREEABLE BY THE COUNCIL?

WE HAVE SOME OF YOUR THOUGHTS, COUNCILMEMBER WIGGIN, UNLESS THERE'S ANY FURTHER COMMENTS, THAT'S ALL WE'LL NEED.

Okay, 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 are encouraged as well. The City Council has a discretion to extend or shorten the time limit on agenda and non-agenda items. And we have couple participants like that are watching via Zoom. I just wanted to remind that the Zoom connection is active for public participation. Anyone wishing to address the council during public comment via Zoom should use raise hand feature. Speakers will be recognized in the order received. When called upon, please unmute your microphone, state your name for the record, and proceed with your comments.

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 and public hearing 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 couple of slides. I was hoping the clerk could call up Adam Leverins as each of you is fully aware by now there's a review of tidelands management going on in Newport and The watchful eye of both the state lands and coastal commissions are kind of overseeing this and this first image here is taken from their report on the city of Newport beaches public trust lands management and which they adopted in December and forwarded to the city in January. There's a couple formulas within the report that calculate rents for docks and moorings and whatnot. And the first figure you see here, they came up with $0.88 a square foot annually. They do these calculations on their own for areas they manage in the state about every five years, and they have a rate for Ventura, Los Angeles, Orange, and San Diego counties The second rate here is 96 cents a square foot, and they say that that was used based on a city dock appraisal from last year, but that's been being called the draft, so it's not been public released yet. And quoting Stateland staff on the bottom of this slide, staff is not suggesting that the city must use the above numbers, which are only rough calculations or that other approaches to valuation are not reasonable, close quote. And if I could have the next slide, please. The California State Lands Commission benchmark for our area right now, again, for the counties I mentioned, applied to private docks, piers, and buoys is 45.1 cents a square foot. And in their staff reports for setting these, they say, quote, the use of benchmarks improves the consistency, transparency, and efficiency in how the commission establishes rent for large numbers of similar leases, saving time, resources, and money. Periodic benchmark adjustments assures that the people of the state are fairly compensated according to current market rates for the private use of state-owned land consistent with the California Constitution. This figure used marina data from Newport Beach, Dana Point, San Diego, Ventura County, and whatnot. And as I said, they do this on a regular basis. They're experts at doing it. The fact that they said staff is not suggesting that there are other approaches must be used. This seems reasonable. And you'll hear from some in the city that you can't use this rate that has not been determined as of yet. And I'm trying to protect the homeowners rates are surely going to increase because the square footage they're paying for is going to increase. And I'm going to be asking you, which of these rates do you want to subject your constituents to? Ease the pain on those individuals and those permittees by going with the state rate. It removes the local corruption in the process of appraisals and political influences. And I think this would be a win-win. Thank you.

Good afternoon. I'm Gary Osterberg.

I live in Newport Coast.

I just want to comment on the, I received a letter about a proposal to increase the recycling fees in Newport Coast. It's not kind of about the money. It's kind of about the principle that when we were annexed, I was one of those people that was on kind of our little informal committee to determined they wouldn't want to go forward and annex into Newport Beach because we're happy being Orange County at the time. And we were promised a clubhouse, which was delivered nicely. And we were also promised no trash recycling fees back then, which we took everybody at their word. And now there is some proposal out there because there's an organic fee that's being pushed down by the state to pass that on to Newport Coast residents. And I feel that this is something that is in the recycling fee and it kind of is trying to circumvent the spirit of the agreement that we had with everybody so like everyone to reconsider just abiding by that and not forcing that fee on people of newport coast any longer okay okay thank you thank you next speaker please

Good evening, council members and staff. My name is Laura Curran. I'd like to call your attention to some items on the consent calendar because I believe tonight's agenda with staff reports was over 1,200 pages. So if you got to read them all, kudos to you. It was a lot. 19, visit Newport Beach. There is a report on the budget and performance standards, which I would encourage the public to look at. It's always valuable to see what Visit Newport Beach is proposing and what they're covering in their $7 million budget and how the city manages the TOT, Transit Occupancy Tax, program for them. So I would encourage the city council to request a study session or a hearing on this item in the future and or to review it at the finance committee, which has been done in the past and which has led to some improvements in the accounting, but oversight needs to be continuous in order for it to be effective in this type of partnership relationship. Secondly, I would like to comment on item number 20. We are forming a Police Headquarters Advisory Committee. I'd like to thank our residents, Thomas Maloney, Sandra Meadows, Robert Olson, and Ronald Barbino, who are slated to be appointed. Of course, that may That may change depending on what the council agrees. But one thing I wanted to point out is this project is looking, or this committee is looking at potential sites. And one of the things that recently came up in the news, if you look in the OC Business Journal this week, the Newport Beach car wash was recently sold to the Irvine Company for $11 million. So as the committee continues its research, encourage them to really look at commercial sites in the Fashion Island area, which may be available. Because an $11 million commercial site, which was a car wash, for example, has commercial plumbing, wastewater management. And even if you negotiated with the Irvine company and they had a slight profit, we would come out ahead of any $50 million site. Secondly, we would save the fees that we are currently incurring for study of the site starting in January. The city has spent several hundred thousand dollars for environmental review with LSA associates and with Griffin structures and continues to put out RFPs for architectural review for the Civic Center site, and we can assume for other sites. So if we look at a lot of these commercial sites that are available, and currently we have, apparently we have willing sellers, In this case, Todd Ridgeway, our former mayor and council member. We will be able to move forward more expeditiously with suitable properties and provide our police department with the station they need and the public safety the public requires. Thank you.

Next speaker, please.

Mayor Kleinman, members of the council, my name is Jim Mosier. The clerk, as the clerk announced, I believe this is the first meeting in a very long time that the council has been inviting remote public comment, which is actually in response to a new state law that goes into effect next month. And the state, in enacting that law, was trying to encourage, I think it's a two-year experiment, to try to encourage more public participation in local meetings. I have no idea if there will be much remote participation tonight, but I think if that also is our goal, to increase public participation, I think we really need to advertise a little more that the opportunity exists. I would note, for example, that the city manager's otherwise very useful weekly newsletter that gives an update on the council meeting did not mention that such an opportunity existed tonight. The other comment I wanted to make, which is also related to a not very well advertised opportunity for public input is as the council is aware a considerable segment of Newport Beach down the center of it around the Newport Bay is impacted by aircraft noise and so as a kind of public service announcement I would like to mention that tomorrow afternoon at two o'clock strictly remote will be a meeting at the airport their quarterly noise meeting and I think it's pretty important for people from Newport Beach to participate in that meeting just to know that the airport is a matter of concern to people in Newport Beach and those who would like to view the meeting remotely or participate in it can find the directions for that on the airport website ocair.com If you look in the lower right corner of that home page for the airport, you'll find a link to access and noise. And if you click on that, you'll find how to tune in and participate in that quarterly noise meeting. Thank you.

Thank you. Madam Clerk, do we have anyone online?

No raised hands.

OK. Now is the time for Council announcements or reports from Council members on committee activities and the time for Council members to request an item to be placed on a future agenda. Council Member Wagon, do you have any announcements or reports?

JUST A BRIEF ANNOUNCEMENT. I WANT TO THANK SEAN LEVIN AND RECREATION FOR HELPING ME ORGANIZE THE ANNUAL 4TH OF JULY PARADE IN DOVER SHORES ON MARINERS. I GOT A POLICE VEHICLE, FIRE VEHICLE AND LIFEGUARD VEHICLE TO PARTICIPATE. SO USUALLY ABOUT OVER A THOUSAND PEOPLE COME OUT FROM THE NEIGHBORHOOD AND SURROUNDING NEIGHBORHOODS TO PARTICIPATE IN THE KIDS BIKE PARADE AND THEN WE END IN THE PARK AT THE LITTLE LITTLE BAND AND SOME FOOD TRUCKS SO APPRECIATE STAFF HELPING ME COORDINATE THAT AND GET THAT TOGETHER COUNCIL YOU'RE ALL INVITED ON FOURTH OF JULY IT MEETS AT 10 30 AT SANTIAGO AND MARINERS AND RELATIVELY QUICK WALK DOWN MARINERS DRIVE TO THE PARK SO THANK YOU COUNCIL MEMBER PART TWO

Yes, it was a very big week at the beach, as you all know, but it was fun to attend the Lifeguard All Hands and hear some of the amazing rescues that have happened already and attend the Newport Beach Junior Guard Summer Kickoff. What an amazing program we have. And I enjoyed attending the Oasis Senior Center Wine and Cheese event. They had a band. It was a little elevated from the one that we saw in the, I think, the winter. And everyone loved it. So well done.

COUNCILMEMBER GRANT.

YES, THANK YOU. A MATTER OF MORE REGIONAL IMPORTANCE AS A MEMBER OF THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS FOR THE ASSOCIATION OF CALIFORNIA CITIES I WAS ABLE TO TOUR THE SAN ANOFRI NUCLEAR GENERATING STATION WHICH IS BEING DECOMMISSIONED AND I GOT THE WHOLE GROUP GOT AN UPDATE ON THE SAFETY COMMISSIONING PROCESS FOR THE SPENT FUEL THAT IS STILL IN PLACE. SO CAL EDISON IS COORDINATING THIS WHOLE PROCESS. IT WAS REALLY GOOD TO BE THERE AND UNDERSTAND HOW IT AFFECTS OUR ENVIRONMENT. OBVIOUSLY WE WANT THIS TO BE DONE SAFELY. I CAN REPORT THAT THERE IS A huge priority on the safe and strong environmental stewardship of this process. They're not exactly sure where this spent fuel is going to go, but there is a pretty rigorous federal, state, and local process in place, and we'll look forward to more updates. I also want to give a thank you to the Balboa Bay Club and John Wartman for organizing the 19th annual Father's Day Car Show. Very fun to be down at the Bay Club on Father's Day and see all the families down there just celebrating Father's Day in the midst of some amazing cars that came out to be in the show.

Council Member Weber.

I just want to say thank you to city staff and our recreation department for putting up the 250 flags. I love them. I even recruited a few of you to take a photo before council. They look amazing. So I just wanted to say thank you again for all of the hard work that went into putting up that display.

Councilmember Stapleton.

Yeah, kudos to that. The flags look great. Well done. Yeah, so I was able, Chief O'Rourke and Chief Boyles, we were able to attend the all-hands for the lifeguards. That was great. I hadn't been to that before, so it's great to see all of our lifeguards lined up and hear from the rookies, so that was fun. And to the junior guards program, it was fun to be out there in the a.m. session to see all the junior guards. I think we were at fifteen hundred and fifty kids this year. It's just remarkable. So it's fun to be out there with all my colleagues and staff attended the Employee Service Awards. So congratulations to all those who won awards for best dressed and everything else and for the community showing up and providing a lot of the food. So it was a wonderful opportunity for the city to thank all of our employees for all the hard work that you guys continue to do. I attended the AAA Auto Club ribbon cutting. They remodeled their building over on Birch. They've been there for 45 years now, so that was pretty cool. And it's nice we don't have to go to the DMV when you get things done there. I was able to get a new legacy license plate for my new motorcycle, so that was pretty cool. I didn't have to go to the DMV. And not in competition, but in partnership, we also have a 4th of July parade councilman wagon down on the peninsula starting at 38th Street and finishing in Channel Place Park. I think Director Levin, this will be your last event for your long career. So congratulations to you for that. It will go out with a bang for sure. Well done. And yeah, congrats to Wartman for that car show. He told me there were 2,000 people that went through that program. And last but not least, a very special happy birthday to our city manager today, Simone Georges. So happy birthday.

Mayor Potemblon.

It's frightening there, City Manager. My wife share almost the same birthday. Tells me a lot about it. But I typically will never add anything during this time except during those Employee Service Awards. The best rest truly was as our Deputy City Manager went fully punk rock and brought back the true idea of the 90s. So thank you, Mr. Benzavita.

And I will piggyback on Councilmember Stapleton's comments and embarrass Mr. Levin. Please come up and share a few words. This is Sean's last meeting. The end of an era. So sorry. Talk to us.

Okay. I'll just take this opportunity to thank this council and all the councils I've worked with over the years. Without the council's support, our department doesn't grow. The community centers that were built don't get built. The parks that get built, all the programs for the community. So just to thank you to all of you for the work you do. I mean, I don't know if a lot of people notice how much work it is to be a council member. It's countless emails and phone calls and it's like anything. It's like most people I think in this community, if things are good, they don't bother. It's like things are great. But when people have a problem, that's when your phone rings. So I've always appreciated working with all the council members to help the community solve their problems and it's just been it's been an absolute pleasure and to the staff and to all my to all the people I've worked with here I mean nothing happens here without the staff the staff are what make this all happen so and I don't do anything without the staff that I work with and work in our department so I just want to give a big thank you to everybody and I'll miss this place, I'm very proud of the things I've been able to accomplish along with many many here and thank you thank you very much.

Thank you was a 21 years.

24.5 20 years or more.

But who's counting. Okay, madam clerk 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 21. 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. And for those that are watching via Zoom, please use the raise your hand feature if you would like to speak on a consent calendar or on future items. All matters listed on the consent calendar are considered to be routine and will all 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 action.

Before we move forward to comply with government code, there needs to be a quick summary regarding the amendment to key management compensation plan. Item number seven, Mr. Jurgis.

Thank you, Madam Mayor. For item number seven, as required by the government code, the amendment to the key and management compensation plan will modify an existing executive management benefit by eliminating the current dollar limit associated with executive management physical examinations. Those are for your department heads. This change is being made because the cost of these physicals fluctuates over time and it is more effective to administer the benefit in accordance with the city's procedures. ALSO THE AMENDMENT WILL INCREASE THE ANNUAL TELECOMMUTING HOURS FOR KEY AND MANAGEMENT EMPLOYEES FROM THE 80 HOURS TO 100 HOURS UNLESS APPROVED BY AND UNLESS APPROVED BY THE CITY MANAGER DISCONTINUE THE 410 WORK SCHEDULES EFFECTIVE JUNE 30TH 2026.

THAT CONCLUDES MY READOUT THANK YOU BIRTHDAY BOY COUNCILMEMBER WEIGAN DO YOU HAVE ANY ITEMS TO PULL FROM THE CONSENT CALENDAR COMPLEX TO ANNOUNCE RELATED TO ITEMS NUMBER 1 THROUGH 21.

YES, I DO HAVE A CONFLICT ON THE CONTINUATION ON THE PERSONAL WIRELESS SERVICE FACILITY, SO I WILL BE, I GUESS, RECUSING MYSELF FROM THAT. I DIDN'T WANT TO PULL IT BUT I WISH TO THANK THE MAYOR FOR WORKING WITH THE MAYOR OF HUNTINGTON BEACH ON THIS ITEM. I SPOKE TO MAYOR CASEY MCKEON TODAY ON THE PHONE TO GET A LITTLE BACKGROUND TO MAKE SURE WE WERE GOOD TO GO ON THIS ONE. It sounded like this was an organic discussion that came out and you were able to connect with our city staff and with Huntington Beach staff. I think that's a testament to your sitting on OCOG, SCAG, OCTA. A lot of these things that come about are regional. PARTNERSHIPS AND YOU KNOW SITTING ON SANITATION DISTRICT AND COUNCILMEMBER GRANT SITS ON THE TOLL ROAD AGENCIES AND SO THIS HAVING THOSE RELATIONSHIPS WITH OTHER CITIES AND OTHER REGIONAL PARTNERS HELP US COME UP WITH SOME OF THESE GREAT SOLUTIONS THAT HELP US REGIONALLY THAT HELP US IN NEWPORT BEACH SO I APPRECIATE THE MAYOR'S HARD WORK ON THAT ONE THANK YOU COUNCILMEMBER BARTO

NOPE. I DON'T HAVE ANYTHING.

COUNCIL MEMBER GRANT?

YES. I DO WANT TO PULL ITEM 18. I THINK THAT IT IS ACTUALLY A VERY SIGNIFICANT ITEM AND IMPORTANT TO THE COMMUNITY AND I'M INTERESTED IN HAVING A STAFF REPORT SO THE COMMUNITY UNDERSTANDS OUR DIRECTION. SO THAT WILL BE IT.

COUNCIL MEMBER WEBER?

um i don't want to pull this item it's item five i just want to take a moment to say thank you to council member stapleton and staff for working with us on the new grant and sponsorship policies i do think they provide much more clarity and transparency and they can they create a consistent framework going forward so i appreciate all of the time and effort that went into bringing these to council

Councilmember Stapleton.

Yeah, I would just kudos on that on item number 5 as well. I don't need to pull it, but would like to thank staff and Councilmember Weber for your hard work on this. I think we got to an excellent position and to staff to City Manager Simone Jurgis and Assistant City Manager Tara Finnegan and Director Sean Levin. Thank you for your hard work on this to get to where we are. I am recused on item number 10 based on real property interest in 4141 10 MacArthur and then I will be pulling item number 20.

Mayor Pro Tem Blanc.

NOTHING. THANK YOU.

I HAVE NOTHING. IS THERE ANYONE FROM THE PUBLIC THAT WOULD LIKE TO COMMENT ON THE CONSENT CALENDAR?

I FOUND IT INTERESTING, TWO OF THE COUNCIL MEMBERS wanted to comment on item five, but did not want to pull it for the entire council to discuss it. Item five is the community program grants and event grants and sponsorships for the coming year. From what I saw, the staff's professional opinion was that we should be reducing the amount that we give away of taxpayer money. And yet something happened at a recent finance committee meeting where the Recommendation got turned around, and now the recommendation is that we actually increase substantially the amount of taxpayer money we're giving away to private organizations. So it's going up by and requiring a $200,000 budget amendment to bring the amount given away up to over half a million dollars a year. We have no minutes of the finance committee meeting to know who actually recommended what or why, and if any of those people making the recommendations would benefit from the increased grants, whether there were any recusals at the meeting, as there would be at a council meeting, or any detail about that. Plus, we have a wholesale restructuring of what was formerly probably too short of a council policy into several new ones. They've been renumbered. What used to be our policy for supporting a fireworks program is now a broader thing for supporting all sorts of events. And the one that I think should not exist, which was formerly policy A12, COUNCIL DISCRETIONARY GRANTS, INDIVIDUAL COUNCIL MEMBERS GIVING AWAY MONEY IS NOW A SEPARATE POLICY. IT HAS MORE DETAIL THAT IS GOOD, BUT I THINK THE ENTIRE POLICY SHOULD NOT EXIST, AND I WOULD HAVE TO COMMEND MAYOR BLOM FOR HIS DISCRETION IN NOT GIVING AWAY ALL THE MONEY THAT HE COULD. AND THEN THE OTHER ITEM I WOULD WANT TO COMMENT ON IS ITEM 21, WHICH IS THE PLANNING COMMISSION REPORT. That item is on your agenda to give you an opportunity to call up for review, things that happened at the Planning Commission meeting. You're probably aware they held a very contentious meeting at which many, many members of the public expressed their displeasure with the approval of a 30-unit housing project next to the Environmental Nature Center. If you don't want to call up that for review, at least I think you should get the message that you should make a bigger effort to solicit public input before the Planning Commission or you as a council identify a site like that as a housing opportunity site or put a housing overlay on it. Thank you. That should never have happened. Thank you.

Adam Leverins, so much. I think Ms. Curran mentioned 1,200 pages of agenda materials, so I'll just hit on things I can in three minutes. Consent item two is something, given the fire chief, public works director, municipal operations director, and harbor master, and some employees under them, power to issue citations for certain sections of the California Vehicle Code, the California Fish and Game Code, Title 14 of the California Code of Regulations and provisions of the California Harbors and Navigation Code. That's adding some provisions of that code and looking up the fines for violations looks like 50 to $500. I am presuming these are administrative citations, which will relate to item 16, I hope to get to before my time runs. consent item three is revisions to the harbor code title 17 and and this kind of relates to the citations is given the harbor master authority to issue and serve administrative subpoenas and it notes that the person being served has 30 days from the date of service the concern I have is I've heard from city employees that the date of service is when they drop it in the mailbox I'd like to see that expanded a little bit. I mean, sometimes the mail, you know, they get sent the email as well, but I'd like to give the person being accused more time, and I hope you'd be considerate of doing that. Subsection 8 of the Title 17 revision says, quote, failing to connect a portable or permanently installed marine sanitation system, if any, to an internal holding tank, The reason boaters have a portable sanitation device is because they don't have an internal holding tank. Some duffies have porta-potties, smaller fishing and lobster boats, some smaller power boats and sailboats. They don't have an internal holding tank. So you get what they call a cassette toilet. There's also composting toilets now. This is going to make a whole bunch of boats in the harbor noncompliant should this pass. And it probably won't be enforced, but still to do this and make a whole bunch of boats non-compliant is an issue to me. And what does someone do if they have a portable sanitation device and it's not connected to an internal holding tank? Do they remove it to be compliant? Then what? Where do they go? We all want cleaner water, but the way this is set up isn't achieving that means. Then it also notes that it's required on any vessel which a person may stay aboard overnight. There's no clarification on the determination. Consent item 16, hiring two law firms to prosecute these administrative citations. The staff report indicates that there were 137 issued in fiscal year 2025, 68 hearings. In fiscal year 2026, only through May, 296 issued and 236 hearings. We know there's been a big focus on increasing enforcement. Thank you. Thank you.

Any other speakers?

Good evening, Mayor and members of the City Council. Commenting on item 5, my name is Nick Laborde speaking on behalf of Miracle Makers International Film Festival. I'm stepping up first to provide a straightforward policy showing how this festival clearly aligns with your new framework. The festival originally applied in strict good faith compliance with the city's signature event framework under 501c structure, simply because the city's paperwork mandated that format to qualify. Tonight, the city is formally introducing a rewritten policy A-12 and a brand new policy B-12. These revised guidelines and new funding recommendations were never made available to us or the public until the final agenda for this meeting was published. Denying a qualified applicant based on a retroactive policy switch that did not exist when we filed is fundamentally unfair. Under your new B-12 rules, this is a commercial marketing partnership with nonprofit status no longer required to match your exact administrative preferences miracle makers is already an established standalone independent business which fully complies with section be of your brand new policy we do not require an outside entity to do business with the city and we are ready to proceed in this path staff report states we are not recommended due to the lack of historical budget data but the explicit text for your new policy section at states previous financials are only required where available so new assets are bought by catch 22. THE FESTIVAL ALREADY PROVIDED A THOROUGH DETAILED OPERATIONAL BUDGET. YOUR RULES ARE ALREADY SHOWING IMMENSE FLEXIBILITY TONIGHT. THE NEWPORT TO ENSIANDA YACHT RACE WAS PLACED UNDER THE FEE WAIVER POOL DESPITE INCURRING ZERO CITY FEES. STAFF ACTIVELY EXERCISE ADMINISTRATIVE FLEXIBILITY TO AWARD DIRECT CAST ASSISTANCE BASED PURELY ON CULTURAL MERIT. IF THE CITY CAN APPLY POLICY FLEXIBILITY TO THE YACHT RACE, THE COUNCIL HAS THE FULL LEGISLATIVE AUTHORITY TO FUND MIRACLE MAKERS TONIGHT. WE OFFER TWO COMPLIANT PATHS, PATHWAY A, A B-12 STRATEGIC SPONSORSHIP UNDER OUR CURRENT INDEPENDENT BUSINESS STRUCTURE, OR PATHWAY B, AN A-12 COMMUNITY GRANT SPECIFICALLY UNDER PROVISION SEED FUNDING USING OUR 501C STRUCTURE. The funding is fully available tonight via the major budget amendment. We respectfully request the city council approve a revised funding recommendation for Miracle Makers under whichever pathway best aligns with your goals. Tell us what structure you prefer and we will proceed. The festival's director will also comment on the direct economic benefit. Thank you.

Thank you.

Hello. I'd like to also comment on item number five. Dear Mayor Lauren Kleiman and honorable members of Newport Beach City Council. I'm Erin Miracle. Yes, that is my real last name. Founder and director of Miracle Makers International Film Festival. I realize that I am new to this community and it is an honor to stand before you to express my deep appreciation for Newport Beach and my admiration for each of you as leaders and stewards of this beautiful city. If I've learned anything from the many citizens I've met here, it's that they value family, faith, and they love the Regal Edwards Big Newport Beach Theater. For a couple of weeks, it wasn't clear whether Regal would honor our contract. In what felt like divine intervention, Regal Corporate informed us that we are 100% confirmed to host our festival at this beloved landmark cinema, and it's likely that our event there will be its last. True, you already have a great film festival, and you may say, why would our fest remain when the theater is gone? Because we want to remain here. We're investing in Newport Beach, and we offer something very different from the Newport Beach Film Festival, attracting people, partnerships, and opportunities to your city that most traditional film festivals do not. Whatever the future may hold, there is still value in what we are creating right now. And as they say, the present moment is a gift. That is why they call it the present. They also say great things come in small packages, and I'm not referring to myself. While we may seem small, something great is taking shape, and we are only now beginning to pull back the curtain on what we've been working on behind the scenes. To quote the treasured film Field of Dreams, if you build it, they will come. We are building it, and they are coming, from filmmakers to sponsors to nonprofits, families, and more, including Sharon Lawrence, vice president of SAG-AFTRA, who took the time to send in a comment expressing her support and emphasizing the economic impact that exists. Just today, we met with a merchant-based distribution platform wanting to sponsor the festival in an incredibly significant way, bringing enormous opportunities to not only artists and filmmakers, but local merchants and businesses that have nothing to do with the entertainment industry. Any amount you might be willing to contribute will only benefit the city more as our direct and immediate reinvestment into Newport Beach will ensure more visitors and revenue sooner than later. In the May 14th meeting, it was communicated clearly that the city has the funds and wants new events to support. Humbly, I'm the first to acknowledge that I am entitled to nothing from you except a fair review under your own policies and just practices. As my husband pointed out, MiracleMakers still appears to qualify for consideration for sponsorship and or grants. You may simply not want to support us, and that is certainly your prerogative. I only wish to respectfully note that we remain eligible for consideration and ask that our application be evaluated on its merits. My request is simply that you consider to support at any level so that our benefit to your city may be greater than what it will inevitably be. Thank you. Thank you.

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

Thank you, Madam Mayor. I have a motion moving the balance of the consent, noting the adjustment to the minutes, a conflict from Item 4 from Councilmember Wiegand, a conflict on Item 10 from Councilmember Stapleton, and understanding we're pulling both 18 from Councilmember Grant and 20 from Councilmember Stapleton.

I'VE GOT A MOTION. DO I HAVE A SECOND?

I'LL SECOND.

SECONDED BY COUNCIL MEMBER STAPLETON. LET'S GO AHEAD AND VOTE.

MOTION CARRIED BY UNANIMOUS VOTE.

OKAY. WE WILL NOW CONSIDER ITEMS REMOVED FROM THE CONSENT CALENDAR, BEGINNING WITH ITEM NUMBER 18, COUNCIL MEMBER GRANT. DO YOU WANT A STAFF REPORT?

YES, THANK YOU. I WOULD APPRECIATE STAFF GIVING US A REPORT ON THIS IMPORTANT ITEM.

Good evening mayor members of the Council tonight we're presenting to you a proposed agreement with the city of Huntington Beach that would provide Newport Beach with dedicated beds at the Huntington Beach navigation center and Huntington Beach staff also provide some social services to Newport Beach clients on a part-time basis. I want to also add quickly that we have greatly appreciated our partnership with Costa Mesa over the years. It's been almost six years with the bridge shelter, and we've enjoyed working with their staff and are very grateful that they agreed to partner with Newport Beach. However, that agreement is coming to an end. The expiration date is looming, so we began discussions with Huntington Beach. We looked at... Not only shelter beds, but as I said, also providing some social services, which in turn, we currently contract for social services. If the city council approves the agreement this evening, we would also be ending our agreement with our social services provider, people assisting the homeless or PAP. So tonight we present to you an agreement that would provide for 10 dedicated shelter beds at the Navigation Center for Newport Beach clients, one part-time social services worker that will provide outreach and case management to our Newport Beach clients in Huntington Beach, And also there's some overhead fees and a one-time $9,000 fee. Huntington Beach even agreed to convert an older vehicle of theirs for this part-time social services worker to use while on duty for Newport Beach. So all in, that agreement would come to $44,100 per month plus the one-time $9,000 cost to help them convert that vehicle. Okay. Yeah, 44,100 per month for the 10 beds and the social services and the overhead costs all in.

Okay, thank you. I pulled this item not because I disagree with it, I actually agree with it and I'm so YOU KNOW, IT'S SO IMPORTANT TO OUR COMMUNITY TO UNDERSTAND WHAT'S HAPPENING WITH OUR HOMELESS SITUATION AND HOW MUCH PROGRESS THAT WE'VE MADE. I WAS FORTUNATE TO WORK WITH COUNCILMEMBER CLIMON FROM EARLY TIMES ON COUNCIL AND SEEING THE WORK THAT OUR STAFF, WHETHER IT BE Natalie as our homeless coordinator or Tara you as our assistant city manager our police department we've really had a network of people that have addressed this in such an ambitious way and been able to make strides and I want to acknowledge that we have experienced a reduction of street level homelessness by more than 90% which is an amazing metric and I'm very proud of the work that we've all done together to get there and to provide some opportunities for the homeless in our city. So moving from Costa Mesa, which again, I agree with you, we've had a very good relationship with Costa Mesa and it's been a journey to try and make sure that we navigate this well, to use a word. But now we have a new opportunity to sort of right-size our shelter. We've had less need in the shelter due to the reduction of homelessness in our community. So this opportunity that staff has pursued to create this new relationship with Huntington Beach is a huge savings to our city. You mentioned that we're going to spend $44,100 a month, but our monthly was double or even triple that amount in the past. So right-sizing our shelter is a really important next step. And working with Huntington Beach, I feel confident. I have not toured the shelter, but I did have an opportunity to review the contract. And I was very pleased to see the strides that we're making in the contracting. And I think we're saving over a million dollars annually. So I don't know if that includes PATH or not, but just in the shelter fees.

Approximately, yes, indeed. Currently, for the 20 dedicated beds in Costa Mesa, the cost is about $99,000 roughly per month. For PATH, we're spending about $20,000 roughly per month. So all in, that's about $120,000 per month savings.

which is remarkable and money that we can use to further our goals of assisting with homelessness in other ways or in other you know permanent supportive housing and other things that we're doing it's an amazing savings so you know really good planning and very very thoughtful execution and stewardship of our taxpayer dollars as well as assisting a needy community in our midst so thank you to staff and I would leave it to my colleagues to comment further or the

I just wanted to jump in really quick because we had an email from a constituent and I think you guys were able to resolve it. So thank you. But I just wanted to thank you for the degree of work that you're doing to navigate the transition. And I know it might not be clear to some of the residents currently, but I've been very appreciative of the level of detail you guys have given to that community. Thank you.

SEEING NO OTHER COMMENTS UP HERE, I'LL TAKE IT OUT TO THE PUBLIC. ARE THERE ANY COMMENTS ON THIS ITEM? MADAM CLERK, ANYTHING ONLINE? OKAY. BRING IT BACK UP HERE. MAYOR PARTON-BLOM.

THANK YOU SO MUCH, MADAM MAYOR. JUST A COUPLE OF QUICK COMMENTS ON THIS, AND THANK YOU SO MUCH, We know this is never an easy subject to tackle. We have been working through it personally with you for about six years. We've made amazing headway, and I owe none of that to myself, but to my other colleagues up here that have pushed forth, especially the mayor. Sometimes it's difficult to understand why we adjust something, why we change something that from the outset looks like it's working. But the reality is we want it to work better. And the relationship we have with Huntington, especially right now, has been amazing. They've stepped up in a way that, you know, and hopefully John is not listening to our meeting right now, but that Costa Mesa never could. And we are looking forward to working with them, moving laterally to make these things happen and I thank the mayor so much for getting this done with the help of staff. It was a huge adjustment. We've had constant issues, challenges throughout the entire process. As we look at this from a holistic perspective, we only want it to get better. And this is the next step to getting it better. And so sometimes it's hard to sit up here and explain why we do the things we do, why we move forward with these programs. But the amount of time, energy, and hours that were spent to get us to this point from where we were before are daunting. And for a lot, I mean, I only look to my left right now, It is a part-time job or even less than that for most of us up here. It is community service for all of us, but we do it because we love it. And I have never seen someone so driven and diligent to make it better for everyone in Newport Beach as the mayor to get this done. So this wasn't something lightly done, something we move forward in an amazing way. So I move staff recommendation on this.

And I'll second it. Thank you. Let's go ahead and vote.

Motion carried by unanimous vote.

We will now move on to item number 20 that was pulled by Council Member Stapleton.

Yeah, no need for a staff report. I just thought this is an important of item given the committee and everything else going on that one to my Council colleagues an opportunity to. Making recommendations or adjustments to the committee, I know we had what city manager just we had 31 applications that's correct. I don't know if any of my other colleagues have any recommendations or any changes like to make.

I believe we heard from one of our colleagues that there was an application that had some irregularities. Were you able to resolve those irregularities?

That is correct. Mr. Rubino is not here and I was hoping that This wouldn't be something I need to bring up to the Council, but I did send out a Council or an email to Mr. Rubino based on some information that was quickly Google searched, and it related to the county bankruptcy back in 1994. And so I raised some concerns with that. Mr. Rubino answered to, I guess, his best ability. I DIDN'T PRINT IT OUT WORD FOR WORD BUT BASICALLY A JUDGE, HE WAS ABLE TO SEE A JUDGE AT THE TIME AND THE JUDGE EXPUNGED HIS RECORD AND SO I HAD JUST IN MY EMAIL TO HIM HAD QUESTIONED WHY THE APPLICATION WAS LACKING A YES RESPONSE TO A PREVIOUS CONVICTION. you know, a judge would tell him that you could mark no to that based on the expungement. So that was his response. I did have some other questions related to the application and the highlighting of a part of his role at the county, which was prior to the incident that saw him being indicted and pleading guilty to a misdemeanor. THE APPLICATION BASICALLY STATED THAT HE WORKED AT THE COUNTY UNDER ANOTHER ROLE, BUT THE ROLE THAT HE SUPPOSEDLY GOT IN TROUBLE FOR WAS HIS FINAL ROLE AT THE COUNTY, SO I WAS ASKING HIM WHY HE DIDN'T RESPOND TO THAT, AND I DIDN'T QUITE GET AN ANSWER TO IT, BUT I JUST FEEL THAT THAT HISTORY, THAT CHAPTER IN THE COUNTY IS A PRETTY SIGNIFICANT ONE, SO I REALLY WAS QUESTIONING THAT. I DIDN'T PULL THE ITEM BECAUSE I WAS MAYBE HOPING FOR MY COLLEAGUES TO EXPAND ON THAT DISCUSSION AND SEEING THAT COUNCILMEMBER STABILTON AND NOW COUNCILMEMBER BARTU HAVE ASKED ME FOR THAT. I JUST RAISE CONCERN TO IT AND THINK IT'S MAYBE TOO MUCH OF AN ISSUE THAT WE NEED TO HAVE ANOTHER MEMBER OF THE COMMITTEE SERVE ON OR ANOTHER MEMBER OF THE PUBLIC SERVE ON THIS COMMITTEE. IF ALL ESTIMATES ARE SAYING THAT'S $150 MILLION, SOME SAY HIGHER, SOME SAY LESS, BUT LET'S JUST USE WHAT WE'VE KIND OF BEEN TOLD, $150 MILLION TO Rebuild the police station. I think it's too big of a number to have somebody who has a record whether it's I Wasn't there. I wasn't in the room where it happens. I wasn't really that old but I know that it was a significant impact to our County and a lot of people Employees of the county my father was actually an employee of the county at that time and you know He came home a lot a lot of stressful stressful days wondering if he'd have a job or if his pay would be cut and And so, you know, it's a part of the county's history that's not going to go away, hopefully, anytime soon. So whether or not what happened in that courtroom, what happened when those decisions were made, I just think it's too much for this committee to have somebody on there that has that record. So I get it. Mr. Rubino has resolved that issue, and... Again, I wasn't there. I don't want to and he's not here to defend himself. So I It's it's it's a challenging, you know discussion, but I guess that's what we're here to sometimes talk about so I would be more comfortable with a different recommendation from the subcommittee if that Subcommittee maybe has a alternate recommendation.

Maybe they could explain a little more mayor pro tem Blum Thank You madam mayor and thank you for your comments council member again and I As we looked through and interviewed every applicant that whirled through, it was important to understand kind of where they were coming from and what their positions were. And I can understand any trepidation that might be there, especially when it feels less transparent than it should. So I'd be happy to make a friendly amendment on that to move with one of our alternates Mr. Paul Watkins as the alternate member on that and call for a vote with the friendly amendment. That's a first.

We have some other council comments and we need to go out to the public. Council Member Grant.

okay thank you um i appreciate you know the importance of this application process this has been an important issue to our community for a number of months now and this process i you know appreciate the diligence of the committee and of councilmember weigand and others in taking this role very seriously and We certainly do have an expectation that all applicants provide complete and accurate information. So questions were addressed to Mr. Rubino and we did receive a response. And I appreciate his clarification of the questions and the expungement, the explanation of his expungement of his record that was something that happened about 30 years ago. Based on his responses and the original selection by my colleagues, I believe he would provide thoughtful and independent representation on the committee. But I also know that Mr. Watkins has a longstanding good record of service to our community, and I'm supportive of him in that role as well. I would mention that I look forward to the community-driven process where all of our residents will have a lot of opportunity to participate. Thank you.

Council Member Weigand.

Yeah, and just to add on the Councilmember Grant's comments about expungement, I kind of look back through some of our previous appointments to committees, boards, commissions, and, you know, I found one that did say, you know, have you ever been convicted? And he wrote yes, and he basically, and I won't name the name, but I appreciated the honesty saying that there was a DUI that they received, but the case and charges were dismissed and expunged on the 26th of January, 2016. So I don't know if expungement, what it means for this city council purview for a job application. You don't have to do it, but for us, I just... I think it's just something that's pretty important to disclose. And I think if that disclosure was met and you're so interested in saying why you felt the expungement was a great recommendation and you technically weren't guilty, then that should have just been disclosed. So I just raise concern with that. But as far as what the other commenters have said or Council Member Grant and related to Paul Watkins, I would be supportive of that.

With that, I'll take it out to the public. Does anyone have a comment on this item?

Adam Leverins. This would be an instance where it would be helpful as in the past there were agenda materials when people walked in the room so they could have a copy. I just saw this in the online materials late yesterday. Public comment doesn't generally show up on the agenda until very shortly prior to this meeting. And so I'm speaking from memory, but I've heard the word expungement from Council Member Grant and Weigand. And I believe in the agenda materials in his response to you, Council Member Weigand, there was a clipping of a news article that said exonerated. and and again i haven't had time to research this but i'm not two of you are attorneys i'm not but exonerated is different than expungement i mean if any of you were accused of something and exonerated that's more indication that you didn't do anything you know i expect you're going to go with the alternate but i just hope there's some reflection on the words you're using and maybe look at the agenda materials if you can online and see if he was exonerated or had something expunged because there is quite a substantial difference i think thank you any other comments on this item

Good evening, Mayor Kleinman and other members of the City Council. I also know Mr. Watson and I would support him as a member of this committee, but I think this is totally irresponsible to make this an issue with a member of our community who was exonerated. And if you read the material, and I know, Mayor Pro Tem, you received a letter this afternoon from Ron Rubino that also went into quite a lot of detail on that exoneration. And I find it appalling if you use a 20-year-old exoneration as a reason to keep him off this committee. His background is uniquely suited to what you are trying to do, and he would be an excellent contributor to the discussions that this committee will be having. So that's my point of view on this. Thank you. Thank you.

Seeing no other speakers, Madam Clerk, are there any online? I'll bring it back up here. Council member why again?

I'll pull the actual email that he responded. I don't think that's necessary, but there's no, there's no word exonerated in his response. It is.

WELL, I THINK WE CAN ALL AGREE THIS IS NOT A HEARING ABOUT MR. RUBINO WHO IS NOT HERE TO DEFEND HIMSELF. WE ARE HERE TO DISCUSS THE MEMBERS OF THIS COMMITTEE FOR A VERY SPECIFIC PURPOSE. WE HAVE A MOTION BY MAYOR PRO TEMBLOM. DO WE HAVE A SECOND? WE HAVE A SECOND BY COUNCIL MEMBER WEBER. LET'S GO AHEAD AND VOTE.

MOTION CARRIED BY UNANIMOUS VOTE.

WE'LL NOW MOVE ON TO PUBLIC HEARINGS. ITEM NUMBER 22 IS RESOLUTION NUMBER 202648 AND 202649 OVERRIDING THE ORANGE COUNTY AIRPORT LAND USE COMMISSION ADOPTING THE NEWPORT BEACH 2050 GENERAL PLAN. MR. JURGIS, DO WE HAVE A STAFF REPORT?

I AM EXCITED ABOUT THIS ITEM BECAUSE IT'S BEEN SEVEN YEARS IN THE MAKING AND WE'RE FINALLY DONE WITH OUR GENERAL PLAN UPDATE. General plans are the vision for this city and our visions for the next 25 years to 2050. We started this in 2019. I remember all of us up here worked on this seven years ago, and then we got derailed by the housing element. Now we put it back on track. Both Jaime and Ben are here. Thank you to Ben for kind of getting this to the finish line. And the gentlemen have a very short presentation for you.

Thanks for that, Simone, and good evening, Madam Mayor and Council Members. Ben Zadiba, Deputy City Manager here alongside Jaime Murillo, who also played a key role from staff side in the general plan update. I promise this is not 30 slides like the study session you had in April. It's a mere 10. So the scope of the update, just for the benefit of everyone tuning in, the intent was to really review and update the general plan with a new community vision. A lot has changed since 2006. And so the intent was to refresh the 2006 general plan. There's a lot of sentiment in the community that the general plan is actually pretty good, and it just needed some refreshment to align it with the recently adopted housing element, as well as current legislative changes in state law. And then also looking towards a new planning horizon of 2050, a lot of the documents in the 2006 general plan actually looked to 2025 as the future. So with that being the case, we wanted to push that planning horizon out. The graphic on the right shows that the focus and scope of the update was all of our elements with exception of the circulation element and the housing element. I want to reemphasize that this was led by community members. We had council-appointed Brown Act committees. Collectively, these committees met over 100 times, and they were tasked with ensuring that there was adequate community representation and that the community had a strong voice in the general plan update, making sure it was really embodying what the community saw as the future of Newport Beach and how we could continue to be an exceptional community no matter what the future has in store. I'LL NOTE THAT BOTH THOSE COMMITTEES WERE SUNSET BY CITY COUNCIL FEBRUARY OF THIS YEAR AFTER MAKING AN OVERWHELMING MAJORITY VOTE OF 25-1 SUPPORTING THE GENERAL PLAN UPDATE DRAFT MOVING FORWARD. BRIEFLY, WE DID HAVE COMMUNITY OUTREACH AND ENGAGEMENT ALONG THE WAY. WE HAD THREE PHASES. JUST SHOWING SOME PICTURES, INITIALLY WE HAD POP-UP EVENTS AT THE MAYOR'S EGG RACE, AT THE BATTLE OF THE BAY WATER POLL EVENT, AND WE ALSO HAD SOME SHARETS OR IDEA BRAINSTORMING SESSIONS AND ULTIMATELY OPEN HOUSES FOR THE COMMUNITY. WE TOOK A PHASED APPROACH, ALTHOUGH, LIKE WAS SAID, THIS IS A SEVEN-YEAR-LONG EFFORT. WE DID PIVOT TO THE HOUSING ELEMENT, CAME BACK AND RESTARTED IN 2023. SO WE'VE BEEN AT THIS FOR ANOTHER THREE YEARS NOW. concluding with the final phase four, which is the public hearings. I'm going to go into a little bit of detail of what we've done since the study session. So we did have a state-required SB18 tribal consultation. We've also conducted an addendum through CEQA to the adopted and certified program environmental impact report for the housing element. Under consultation requirements, we did receive four responses. Staff engaged in consultation with two tribal representatives, and all consultations have been closed with no further action. In terms of hearing, an important piece for you this evening, as you'll note, there are two resolutions. One is to override the ALUC, or the Airport Land Use Commission for Orange County's determination of inconsistency with the 2008 John Wayne Airport Environments Land Use Plan, which was a decision that was rendered on March 19th. Since that time, April 23rd, the Planning Commission unanimously recommended City Council's adoption. You all authorized us to transmit a notice of intent to override the Airport Land Use Commission, and we did receive comments from the Airport Land Use Commission and Caltrans Division of Aeronautics. Both of those are included in the record, and we've addressed them adequately in the resolution. This is a video recording that I made showcasing the online general plan. It's really just showing some of the functionality that we intend to have. Now this is not going to be up and available tomorrow, but the intention is to have this up very shortly should you take the recommended action this evening. There are collapsible goals and policies. It's all searchable. You can hover over words and there's a glossary pop-up window that shows up. Here we're seeing that there's an implementation program. You can directly click on it. and it shows you exactly which policies are related to the implementation component here. And then I think shortly I'll be going to the search bar, typing in airport area, and getting a list of all references or instances throughout the general plan. This is really intended, again, to make it more accessible, more usable for all users, whether it's staff, community members, elected officials, or appointed committee members. I'm sorry, this is a little bit longer than I thought it was, but... HERE THERE'S ANOTHER FUNCTIONAL PIECE THAT ALLOWS YOU TO FILTER BY ELEMENT. YOU CAN ALSO FILTER BY IMPLEMENTATION TIMEFRAME OR DEPARTMENT RESPONSIBILITY. AND AGAIN, THIS IS REALLY THE FRONT FACING COMPONENT OF THE GENERAL PLAN. THERE WILL BE A PRINTER FRIENDLY OPTION AND WE WILL BE MAINTAINING PRINTED VERSIONS PERIODICALLY IN THE CITY'S LIBRARIES AND AT CITY HALL. I do want to note that, again, this would not be possible without the initially 28 to 30 members who are on the general plan advisory committee, as well as the steering committee members. We do have some members present in the audience, as well as the Newport Beach community. I also added this acknowledgment slide because we've had MULTIPLE PUBLIC HEARINGS OR PUBLIC MEETINGS WITH THE GENERAL PLAN AS A TOPIC AT THE BOARD OF LIBRARY TRUSTEES ARTS COMMISSION HARBOR COMMISSION PB&R PLANNING COMMISSION WATER QUALITY COASTAL TIDELANDS AND NOW CITY COUNCIL SO I WANTED TO ACKNOWLEDGE EVERYONE WHO'S BEEN INVOLVED IN THIS PROCESS. THIS IS MY LAST SLIDE. WE DO HAVE KEY CONSIDERATIONS FOR YOU. WITH THIS UPDATE, THERE HAVE BEEN NO CHANGES TO DEVELOPMENT LIMITS, NO CHANGES TO LAND USE PATTERNS THROUGHOUT THE CITY, SO WE'RE NOT INTENDING TO HAVE THIS CONFLICT DIRECTLY WITH THE ZONING CODE WHERE WE NEED TO UPDATE ANYTHING. AGAIN, IT'S A STREAMLINED ONLINE GENERAL PLAN. PREPARATION WAS LED BY THE COMMUNITY MEMBERS, AND AGAIN, THOSE COMMUNITY MEMBERS WHO ARE ON THE GPAC AND THE STEERING COMMITTEE SUPPORTED THE DRAFT MOVING FORWARD. THIS IS THE LAST SLIDE I HAVE FOR YOU AND I'M AVAILABLE FOR ANY QUESTIONS. I JUST ALSO WANT TO NOTE THAT STAFF'S CONSULTANT TEAM WHO WORKED ON THE GENERAL PLAN UPDATE AS WELL AS THE OUTREACH ARE AVAILABLE IF YOU HAVE ANY TECHNICAL QUESTIONS ON THAT PIECE. THANK YOU.

THANK YOU. ANY QUESTIONS OR COMMENTS UP HERE? SEEING NONE, WE'LL GO OUT TO THE PUBLIC.

Nancy Gardner. Of course, I hope that you will approve of the plan, but I would also hope that you will take up the General Plan Advisory Committee's recommendation to establish a General Plan Review Committee, which would meet once a year and review one or two elements of the General Plan to make sure that we're moving forward with all the policies that we have included. Thank you.

Denise Oberman. Yes, been a Herculean effort and it's a fantastic overview of vision. The one thing that I did want to point out came out in a prior council meeting had to do with the significant change that's occurred as a result of the housing mandate and the injection of a materially larger amount of of housing concentrated in certain areas of the city and given that no areas of the city or the villages as they were traditionally called operate in 100% independence from one another. We've got to look at traffic and get a traffic plan that aligns and is harmonious with the residential land use and everything that that will drive in terms of the land use because the land use It's not the same landscape or substance that it was in 2006. So to have a plan that's going to truly be sustainable and support the welfare of the city and the constituents, I would encourage there to be not only an annual review, but some type of concerted effort to develop and get the traffic plan aspect element of the general plan up to speed and harmonious with the residential components of the land use. Thank you.

Thank you.

Mayor Kleinman, members of the council, my name again is Jim Mosier. It is absolutely impossible to commit in any comprehensive way on this nearly 400 page general plan loaded with policies in three minutes. I think you might want to ask one of the last slides you heard was about the proposed new online general plan. I think it's important to ask and confirm is that going to be a product that is owned by and maintained by the city staff so our staff itself can keep the plan current or is that something that's going to be farmed out to a third party and require some other contract, probably the one that you will be asked to approve in the future. I think the contrast between the number of council hearings that were held in the 2005 to 2006 period for the current one and the single very brief hearing that you're holding tonight is stark. One would think a general plan that's planning for the development of the city in the next 24 years would have a clear vision of how much we expect the population of our city to change. The plan itself quotes a number that our current population is about 85,000. It doesn't go to 2050, but by 2045, it expects the population to grow to a little over 88,000. That's a growth of about 4,000 over the next 20 years. Yet at your last meeting, you approved a urban water management plan. And it had a table citing new housing development that we expected to develop in the next three years of 5,000 or more units, which would be like adding 10,000 people. And when the housing element implementation was approved two years ago, the EIR for that was anticipating our growth by 2045 would be to a population of over 100,000. That's a growth of 20,000 people. It's really hard to have a plan when you don't know what you're expecting to plan for. I'm not sure this one is quite doing that. And the thing I found most interesting about it is the city staff's recent addition to table LU1, which is anomaly tables. showing now what I think is our current understanding of our general plan. And I would note, you look at something like the VEA hotel, there's no indication here that we're allowing housing there. And you look at the tennis club in Newport Beach down the road here, there's no indication we're allowing a hotel there. Yet you approved a plan for that, planned community 47 that has a hotel. Something is not quite right about this. Thank you.

Thank you. Seeing no other comments. Are there any online? Oh, one more comment.

Good evening, Mayor Kleinman and other members of the City Council. I'd like to begin by thanking the City Council, the staff, members of the GPAC, the planning commissioners, and the many residents who participated in developing the general plan. The plan contains many positive elements. It reflects a commitment to environmental stewardship to public safety economic vitality resiliency and preserving the unique qualities that make newport beach one of california's most desirable coastal communities and i particularly appreciate the emphasis on protecting our beaches harbor open space natural resources and neighborhood character while planning thoughtfully the future for future generations As we move forward towards implementation, however, I believe that there are several very important areas that deserve continued attention. First, Newport Beach should remain focused on achieving meaningful workforce and affordable housing outcomes. Teachers, nurses, police officers, firefighters, healthcare workers, hospitality employees, and young families are essential to our community. Success should not simply be measured by the number of housing units approved, but by whether the housing being produced helps meet the needs of people who work and serve here every single day. Secondly, greater transparency regarding the growth assumptions would help residents better understand the long-term implications of the plan. Throughout this process, residents have sought clarity regarding population projections, housing capacity, redevelopment expectations, and what Newport Beach may realistically look like in 2050. Continued efforts to communicate these assumptions clearly will strengthen public trust. Third, future planning efforts would benefit from expanded public education and outreach. The general plan is a complex document. More visual tools, neighborhood workshops, and plain language explanations can help residents understand how policy decisions may affect their communities. Fourth, community engagement should begin as early as possible in future planning processes. Residents are most effective when they are involved at the front end of policy discussions rather than after major decisions have largely already been shaped. And finally, as redevelopment occurs, I encourage the city to continue monitoring how implementation affects neighborhood character, quality of life, environmental resources, mobility, and qualities that make Newport Beach unique. Thank you. Thank you again for allowing me to comment on the general plan.

Okay. With that, I will close the public hearing, bring it back up here. Council Member Weber.

I thank you staff for your presentation and I just wanted to clarify or confirm that the word parcels in this policy actually means parcels or sites consistent with the code.

Thank you, Council Member Webber. Just for clarity, that's policy LEU 28.1, which staff issued a supplemental memo regarding to ensure there is consistency between the noise element and the zoning code. And while it does not in this memo contain or sites, we can very easily add or sites to the policy to make it very clear and consistent. Perfect.

Thank you.

Thank you.

If there are no other comments up here, do I have a motion?

Thank you, Madam Mayor. I'd like to move staff recommendation on this motion.

I have a motion. Do we have a second? Seconded by Council Member Weber. Let's go ahead and vote. Move on to item number 23, resolution numbers 2026-50 and 2026-51, collection of sewer and recycling fees and charges through the property tax roll. Mr. Jurgis, do we have a staff report?

WE DO. WE DO HAVE A BRIEF PRESENTATION IF THE CITY COUNCIL IS INCLINED. OUR ADMINISTRATIVE SERVICES DIRECTOR CAN GO AHEAD AND WALK US THROUGH THAT PRESENTATION.

Good evening, Mayor and members of the City Council. Tonight's item is a required public hearing regarding the collection of certain sewer and recycling fees through the Orange County property tax rule for fiscal year 2026 to 2027. To clarify, this action does not establish a new fee or increase an existing fee. At the end of this presentation, staff is requesting the adoption of two resolutions authorized to continue to collection of these fees through the tax rule. FOR A BIT OF BACKGROUND, MOST CITY UTILITY CUSTOMERS RECEIVE A CONSOLIDATED UTILITY BILL THAT INCLUDES WATER, SEWER AND RECYCLING SERVICES. HOWEVER, APPROXIMATELY 5600 ACCOUNTS RECEIVE SEWER AND OR RECYCLING SERVICES BUT DO NOT RECEIVE WATER SERVICE FROM THE CITY. MEANING THAT THESE CUSTOMERS DO NOT RECEIVE A WATER BILL. Because these customers are not on a city water billing account, traditional collection methods such as mail billing are less effective. Thus, in 2022, the city began implementing the collection of these fees through the Orange County property tax rule. The primary reason for using the tax role is that the city cannot discontinue sewer or recycling service for nonpayment. Collection through the property tax role provides a more reliable and effective collection mechanism. And since implementation in 2022, collection rates have improved significantly and the process also reduces staff time devoted to collection efforts. And lastly, for customers, it eliminates the need to pay an additional utility bill and consolidates charges onto the annual property tax statement. State law requires the city to prepare annual reports identifying each parcel and the corresponding charge. This year, notices were mailed to all affected property owners and published in accordance with statutory requirements. Tonight's hearing provides an opportunity for property owners to submit objections or protests, and if a majority protest does not exist, the city council may authorize staff to proceed with placing these fees on the tax roll. Recommendations before you is to establish, just to clarify that this is not a new fee or increasing an existing fee. It authorizes the continued collection of already established sewer and recycling charges through the tax rule. And the associated revenues are already included in the fiscal year 2026 to 27 budget. And the continued use of that tax rule supports collection of revenues budgeted in the sewer fund and the general fund for recycling services.

and then this concludes our presentation and we're available for any questions thank you any questions up here council member grant just a quick question how does what you're talking about now just for the benefit of the public that's here and for me as well relate to the gentleman's question earlier during public comment about additional fees in newport coast so we don't charge for trash services it's only for recycling and then for sewer OK, SO HE WAS COMMENTING ON THE...

THERE WAS A REFERENCE TO TRASH AND WE DON'T CHARGE FOR TRASH SERVICES, JUST RECYCLING.

I THOUGHT HE SAID SOMETHING ABOUT RECYCLING AS WELL, DID HE NOT?

HE DID, AND THIS ITEM DOES NOT REFLECT RECYCLING FEE.

OK, ALL RIGHT. SEEING NO OTHER REQUESTS TO SPEAK UP HERE, I'LL NOW OPEN THE PUBLIC HEARING. ARE THERE ANY COMMENTS FROM THE PUBLIC ON THIS ITEM?

Mayor Kleinman and members of the council, Jim Mosher again. I live in an area that has water service from the city, so I'm not one of the persons affected by this. If I was, I would have no particular objection to fees being put on a property tax bill rather than being sent separately in the mail. However, if I was on If I was one of the affected persons and lived in an area that had been part of the city in 1996, I would have, I think, a very legitimate reason for questioning why any recycling fee is being charged to that person, whether in a separate bill or on a tax bill. And the reason is because we have a passage in our municipal code, which is especially important because it was a passage put there by the voters of Newport Beach. And it is section 604 currently, 604.140. And I think I can actually read it to you. It's called Costs Defrayed from Ad Valorem Tax Revenue. That is the 1% basic tax charge. It says, the cost and expense of collecting, hauling away, and disposing of garbage, refuse, and cuttings, as those terms are defined by Section 604.020, for any dwelling or dwelling unit existing or future within the boundary of the city as of November 1st, 1996, that receives curbside container refuse collection service from the city, shall be defrayed. The cost and expense entirely shall be defrayed exclusively from the ad valorem tax revenue. So the basic tax charge should cover all of that. There should be no supplemental charge. I am sure that the city attorney will say that this does not mean what it says it does. But if you read the definitions that are in here, you will find it includes the things that we would regard as recycling or recyclable. And it says that the cost of disposing of those, cost and expense disposing, will be covered by the basic property charge for the properties that were in Newport Beach on November 1st, 1996. Thank you. Thank you.

Adam leverage that the item refers to sewer and recycling fees and I just hope that the mayor would allow staff to answer would incorporating those fees into somebody's property tax bill result in the possibility of leans against that property. And I'm curious if this is separate. I have a tax bill from another state where I get a road assessment fee. If I don't pay it, it's like I'm not paying my taxes. And I wonder if people are at risk of losing their property for not paying recycling fees when some people don't even believe in recycling. So I would hope for an answer to that. Thank you.

Any other speakers on this item? I don't care whether any online. Go ahead and close the public hearing. Any other comments appear or emotion.

This is my way, madam mayor, I'd love to make a motion. I have recommending staff recommendation on the side.

In a motion to add a second. Seconded by County member Bartow. Let's go ahead and vote.

Motion carried by unanimous vote.

Madam Clerk, please read the 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 are adjourned.