Newport boosts contribution to Crystal Cove cottages restoration with new $250,000 donation

Newport Beach plans to donate $250,000 over five years to the Crystal Cove Conservancy to restore the rest of the area’s historical cottages and make them accessible to the public again.

The pact, which the Newport Beach City Council approved Tuesday, follows up on a five-year commitment the city made with the conservancy in 2013 to contribute $20,000 per year, or $100,000 total, to restore more of the beachfront cottages to the benefit of Newport’s bed-tax coffer. The cottages are state-owned but managed by the nonprofit Crystal Cove Conservancy in Crystal Cove State Park, which is within Newport city limits.

The next round of contributions will go toward the 17 North Beach cottages, the last of the park’s 46 1920s and ’30s structures needing to be revived. Newport will distribute the funds at $50,000 per year starting in 2019.

“Newport Beach continues its investment in our parks, beaches and history,” said Mayor Pro Tem Will O’Neill, whose district includes Crystal Cove. “The fact that this investment will see significant financial returns when the cottages are opened is icing on the cake.”

Pay lot to be added

The former McDonald’s on Newport Boulevard is set to become a paid public parking lot.

The council agreed to convert the site at 2807 Newport, which will eventually become home to a new fire station, to a 27-space lot until construction on the new firehouse begins in two years.

The city will spend $11,200 to install a pay station and signage but expects the site to generate about $50,000 a year in parking revenue.

The city agreed to buy the 0.4-acre property last year for about $4 million to replace the aging, undersize Lido-area firehouse about 0.3 miles away at 475 32nd St. That station, built in 1953, can’t easily accommodate modern trucks and has limited vehicle access and onsite parking.

New school officer

The Newport Beach Police Department agreed to add a third officer to its school resource officer team.

The third officer will be based at Ensign Intermediate School and also will provide fill-in for the officers at Corona del Mar and Newport Harbor high schools.

The city will equally split the cost of salary and benefits with the Newport-Mesa Unified School District. The three officers combined will cost each agency about $250,000.

Dredge bid is $400,000 over plan

The city will go back to the drawing board for Grand Canal dredging after the one bid it received for the project came in about $400,000 over estimate.

City staff had expected to spend about $990,000 to dredge the canal — the narrow waterway between the main and “little” Balboa Island — between the Park Avenue Bridge and North Bayfront. But it received only one bid, for $1.389 million.

The bidder, Associated Pacific Constructors of Morro Bay, said restrictive access to the canal, multiple handling of the dredged material and the hauling distance from the bridge to North Bayfront led to the higher price tag, according to a staff report.

The city is averse to splitting the dredging project into two phases because it wants to avoid doubling the cost of relocating boats and moorings and making for twice the neighborhood disturbance. It plans to re-scope the project and re-advertise it.

The city dredged the canal between South Bayfront and the Park Avenue Bridge in February 2017.

hillary.davis@latimes.com

Twitter: @Daily_PilotHD

UPDATES:

3:35 p.m.: This article was updated to clarify that the $250,000 contribution to the Crystal Cove Conservancy will be $50,000 per year for five years.

This article was originally published at 12:50 p.m.