Moving forward!
Your input helped make the difference. At the March 2010 Harbor Commission meeting, Harbor Resources Manager Chris Miller reported (*.pdf - 508KB)  contracts for Fernando St (*.pdf - 288KB) , 15th St (*.pdf - 273 KB) and the 19th St (*.pdf - 264KB) dock extensions are proposed to be awarded to Swift Slip, the lowest qualified bidder. Construction of the dock extensions will hopefully be completed by summer. These dinghy dock extensions will provide improved access for mooring permit holders as well as improved shore access for boaters looking to visit area businesses and attractions.
A newly formed subcommittee is looking at dinghy dock signage and time limits, and has also proposed that a meaningfully long–term option for dingy tie–up will be afforded to mooring permit holders. If approved, this could mean the end of car–topping a dinghy for some people who simply have no other way to accommodate a dinghy used for mooring access. It’s likely a fee of some sort would be charged if this longer–term storage option is approved. By longer–term, we expect the time period would actually be weeks or months if the permit is obtained and the dinghy secured in the longer–term spots. We will keep you posted here on progress of this initiative.
Slip Survey
The City's Revenue office sent to real property owners a survey (*.pdf - 314KB) in advance of issuing new pier permits. The survey asks whether pier and slip space is rented and asks permit holders to report vessel identification for the vessels secured. Again, this survey comes from the City's Revenue department.
City ordinance 17.35.020(A)(4) (*.pdf - 297KB) (opens to p. 49) states that shore-connected piers bayward of commercial zones may be rented. If other piers are not to be rented, to raise revenue, will the City elect to issue higher-revenue commercial pier permits to residential users who have rented their piers?
Vessel Pumpout Stations
Here is a handy chart of vessel pumpout stations (*.pdf - 327KB) and public piers around Newport Harbor. The 15th St. pumpout station is operational; it has two redundant systems so it's very likely to be always operational.
Rhine Wharf progress
The Rhine Whaf is undergoing repairs scheduled for completion in March. Construction of the new public dinghy dock alongside the Rhine Wharf will follow and should take five months.
How grows the eelgrass?
At the May 14th 2009 Harbor Commission meeting, Chris Miller reported on a CRM contract modification to help document eelgrass (*.pdf - 1.82MB) beds in the harbor. Better technology led to the discovery (*.pdf - 1.29MB) that there is less eelgrass in the channels than previously reported by the Army Corps of Engineers. Investigation into eelgrass proliferation helps establish a baseline for eelgrass management and mitigation going forward, a key component of the HAMP. You can learn more about the HAMP here. Though it has been approved by the Harbor Commission, an electronic copy is not yet available for posting for your review. The HAMP's next step will be its presentation to City Council for its approval and adoption.
We always appreciate your continuing support and valued opinions.
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The January (2009) Harbor Commission meeting saw the presentation of the draft on mooring transferability after a ten-month stop at the City Attorney's office. The document represents hundreds of hours of citizen volunteer and City Staff time updating pertinent sections of City ordinances relating to mooring transfers. This project actually began about a year before the 2007 Orange County Grand Jury investigation of City mooring administration.
You are welcome to review the mooring transferability draft (*.pdf - 150KB) .
Following the City Attorney's review of the subcommittee's draft, the document was presented to the Harbor Commission for approval, but the commission recommended it back to the subcommittee for some further consideration of educational institution and sailing club mooring ownership and other details. Following subcommittee work, the draft has been submitted to the new City Attorney for his review. Subsequently, the draft will again be presented to the Harbor Commission at a future Harbor Commission meeting. The Log ran a story about the January 2009 Harbor Commission meeting at which transferability was addressed. You are encouraged to read the transferability draft itself for clarification.
Harbor Commission Meetings
NOTE: May meeing cancelled! The Newport Beach Harbor Commission typically meets on the second Wednesday each month. The next meeting is:
Look here for agendas posted the Friday evening before each Harbor Commission meeting. Several days following each meeting, minutes are posted on the same page.
In February, Harbor Resources Director Chris Miller reported to the Harbor Commission that the Lower Bay Dredging Project handover to the Army Corps of Engineers marked a milestone in the project. From here, the Army Corps will be the primary agency moving the project forward to actualization. There are concurrencies of need that the Army Corps hopes to pair. LA Harbor can accept Lower Bay sediment ineligible for offshore disposal, for fill in port infrastructure expansion. Funding will still be a challenge. (See live news feed below)
LA Harbor use of dredged Lower Bay sediment which cannot be disposed offshore is plan A while the Lido Reach CAD site is plan B for the dredged sediments. Anchor QEA is preparing the EIR and mitigated negative declaration for the City, in case the CAD site is needed.
What determines sediment eligibility for offshore disposal is the concentration of red-tagged substances in the sediment. Measuring equipment is capable of detecting parts-per-billion, and standards are written at various levels on this scale. For perspective, one ppb is the equivalent of 50 drops of water diluted into an Olympic-sized swimming pool which is over six feet deep.
Here is a link to the City's dredging and CAD site page. You can click to a Google search of blogs which discuss Newport Harbor dredging. Or, below, see a Google News live  feed on news related to dredging the harbor. If there are any recent stories on this topic, they will appear in the blue box below. For history buffs, click here to a Google News archive query on Newport Harbor dredging.
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About us -
The Newport Mooring Association is responsible for promoting the business and personal interests of mooring permittees and persons holding property, real or personal, adjacent or attached to, residing on, or anchored to tidelands or public property in, upon, or adjacent to Newport Harbor, as those interests relate to the use of the bay area.
Newport Mooring Association
P.O. Box 1118
Newport Beach, CA 92659-0118
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