Newport Beach City Council meeting wrap-up

SUNSET RIDGE PARK HEROES

WHAT HAPPENED: A presentation to state Sen. Ross Johnson and

Newport Beach activist Louise Greeley set the tone for a lively meeting

with better-than-usual attendance. As a thank-you for their work helping

the city buy Sunset Ridge Park, the City Council held a reception for

Johnson and Greeley and presented them with plaques. Johnson sponsored

Senate Bill 124 to allow the city to obtain from Caltrans the land near

West Coast Highway and Superior Avenue. The city will pay the 1966 price

of $1.3 million for the land appraised for $4.1 million in 1999.

WHAT IT MEANS: After city staff have drafted some plans, council

members will decide on an approach to turning the weed-filled lot into a

community asset.

NEWPORT COAST SERVICES

WHAT HAPPENED: After some concern among council members that

annexing Newport Coast will create an initial budget shortfall of several

hundred thousand dollars, council members approved a budget amendment and

a preliminary plan to provide services to the area, which will likely be

incorporated into the city Jan. 1.

VOTE: 6-0, with Mayor Gary Adams absent

WHAT IT MEANS: Staff assured council members that the initial

budget shortfall was not unexpected and was the result of several

one-time costs of putting annexation in motion. The city is now working

out the details of providing fire, police and other services to the area

beginning next year.

AMERICAN LEGION LEASE

WHAT HAPPENED: Councilmen Steve Bromberg and Tod Ridgeway were

appointed to a council subcommittee to negotiate a long-term lease for

the American Legion Post 291. The legionnaires have been at their current

site at Marinapark since 1949 without the security of a long-term lease.

Now that developer Stephen Sutherland wants to build a 156-room luxury

resort there, moving the legionnaires and a resident Girl Scout troop to

new facilities Sutherland will build on the site, legion representatives

have said they need the security a lease would provide. They now rent the

land from the city for $1 a year.

VOTE: 6-0

WHAT IT MEANS: The subcommittee will begin talks with legion

representatives to come up with the long-term lease some council members

have said they’re committed to providing.

GENERAL PLAN UPDATE

WHAT HAPPENED: The city has announced a new date for its “visioning

festival,” which will kick off the public participation part of the

general plan update. The process will kick off with a festival Jan. 12 at

Hoag Hospital from 10 a.m. to noon and again from 1:30 to 3 p.m. the same

day. The festival will explain to members of the public how they can

participate in the process of updating the city’s general plan, which is

due for its first overhaul since 1988. The document governs everything

from development guidelines to coastal access to business growth to

tourism in the city. The meeting will be at the hospital’s lower campus

facility in the Support Services building, which is accessible from Coast

Highway. The hospital’s address is 1 Hoag Drive. For more information,

call the city manager’s office at (949) 644-3238.

* Compiled by June Casagrande

NEXT MEETING

* WHAT: Newport Beach City Council meeting

* WHEN: 7 p.m. Dec. 11; study session will begin earlier than usual at

3:30 p.m.

* WHERE: Newport Beach City Hall, 3300 Newport Blvd.