Moorings Management Finalized
Updated 3:11PM Wednesday, July 07 On June 22, Newport Beach City Council finalized the contract award to the Orange County Sheriff's Harbor Patrol for mooring management. The item passed as #14 on that evening's consent calendar. The agreement runs for five years with $180,000 paid to the Harbor Patrol in the first year. That fee will increase in subsequent years. It's likely that the increase will be passed through to mooring permit holders; this should amount to about $70 per permit per year. This decision was subsequently upheld by the Orange County Board of Supervisors on June 29.
Sheriff Hutchens' and Lt. Long's commitments to work with the City to meet City service requirements as well as the needs of local boaters, along with the Sheriff's offer to phase in a proposed fee increase over a five year span, sealed the deal. Having the Orange County Sheriff on the front lines enhances not only boater service quality but also community safety. Recent headlines about drug and human smuggling interdictions in local waters underscore the wisdom of the City Council's decision.
Source Material
If you are inclined to learn more about this decision, you are welcome to read the City Council minutes from the June 22, 2010 meeting, as well as the staff report (pdf - 1.13MB)  on the issue.
Fees study/appraisal
The City has announced it is working on an RFP for a new harbor appraisal including moorings. This follows about a year after the previous $120k three-part harbor valuation study (pdf - 2.71MB) was deemed not usable for many reasons. Letters from NMA members and statements of NMA Board members on that study can be found on the Harbor Fees page.
The NMA has been included in discussion about problems with the previous appraisal in preparation of this new RFP. The City is determined to evaluate fees promptly because of its forecasted budget deficit. For a comparison of fees in other harbors with moorings, see the 2010 Mooring Fee Survey, below.
Coastal Marina Permit
In March we told you about the Coastal Marina permit proposal by the SWRCB. The RBOC put the word out that marina operators and yacht clubs needed to write the SWRCB immediately on this proposal. Since the RBOC Call to Arms the SWRCB has come to the negotiating table with the people who run the Clean Marinas program. This voluntary program is a public–private partnership of marina operators who foster Best Management Practices in marinas statewide. The SWRCB is considering whether the Clean Marinas program can implement enough of its requirements, through voluntary compliance, to obviate the requirement of Coastal Marina permits.
Randy Short, president of Almar Marinas, called the Coastal Marinas Permit the biggest threat to the marina industry in 20 years. The RBOC opinion is that the current reprieve from the SWRCB, while it’s investigating the Clean Marinas initiative, warrants immediate laying–down of pens; so please, no more letters until further advised!
The NMA has updated the NMA mooring fee survey (best version for printing – pdf – 819KB ) for harbors in southern California. Or read the mooring fees survey in web page format with clickable links. It shows what harbors elsewhere in California charge for a mooring permit. It also includes berth fees, liveaboards, and transferability. For comparison, see the 2008 mooring fees study (Word doc--50KB  ) (or view as webpage).
Harbor Resources Department
829 Harbor Island Dr., Newport Beach, CA
92660
(949) 644-3034, fax (949) 723-0589
Do you need to reach Harbor Resources?
Email Harbor Resources with your input.
Your eyes are now reading lines of the NMA Electric Pennant, our online newsletter, available only online. It has a hardcopy cousin, NMA Pennant, mailed to all dues-paid NMA members, and is the official newsletter of the Newport Mooring Association. After members receive it via postal mail, recent and past editions are available on the Newsletters page.
Mooring Loan Permission Form
Need to loan a mooring to a friend? Here is the form you fill out, print, sign, and send to the Harbor Department.
There are fewer moon jellyfish around than earlier in the summer. Have you seen them? Did you know that NASA took some of them into outer space for study?
If you need to rethink your sea lion deterrents, please see the NMA Pinniped Pointers page in the NMA documents library. This year sea lions have not shown up in force yet, but moored boats and private piers throughout the harbor remain prime targets. Your continuing effort to keep sea lions off of your boat helps all of us. Sea lions have sunk about ten boats in Newport Harbor, recently including a 1950's Star  boat.
At the February Harbor Commission meeting, a shortened time frame for notification of permit holders of sea lion problems was approved. Formerly a permit holder had 10 days to effect sea lion deterrents; now the permit holder has just seven days (pdf--40KB) from the first warning letter.
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Annual Meeting
The NMA annual meeting at the American Legion Hall on Monday, May 3rd drew about 100 members eager to catch up on issues from mooring administration and the Coastal Marinas permits to the mooring administration redraft, dinghy dock exensions, and transferability. Presentations from Bill Moses, Carter Ford, Lt. Mark Long, Harbor Resources Director Chris Miller, and Harbor Commmissioner Karen Rhyne brought everyone up to date. The smart few who stayed for the most reasonably priced dinner on the bay out back had the best time!
The Board of Directors meets monthly to review projects and conduct business. Mooring permit holders are welcome to attend. The date and time of the next board meeting is:
Thursday, 15 July, at 6PM
upstairs at the Newport Harbor Yacht Club. You are welcome to park across Bay Avenue in the parking lot.
NMA Members are welcome to attend!
Newport Harbor Yacht Club
720 West Bay Avenue
Newport Beach, CA 92661
(949) 763-7730
Mooring Appraisal Critique
The Newport Mooring Association has received, from an MAI-designated independent appraiser, a critique of the City's appraisal of Newport Harbor moorings. Specifically, it addresses the direct comparison of yacht club moorings to individually permitted moorings with no adjustments. We suspected that such a comparison was not valid, but what does a professional have to say about this? Read the appraiser's critique (pdf--320 KB).
The Sheriff's Department has named a new Orange County Harbormaster, Lt. Mark Long. According to this story in The Log, he looks forward to building community support and developing relationships with the community of harbor users. We'll go farther working together. Congratulations, Lt. Long!
With the reassignment of Deputy Joel Monroe, a new mooring master has been named; he is Deputy Carlos Contreras. We understand he has hands-on mooring knowledge, as he is a permit holder himself!
Manager Chris Miller presents the Harbor Commission with an update on projects and issues each month. Here is a link to his June 2010 Update (pdf--2.43 MB) . Click here to find other updates on the Harbor Resources site.
What's going on in Newport Beach? Click to info about (derelict) boat auctions. When the news feeds below are working, the blue boxes will contain City and harbor news. Click any headline to open that story in a new window. If the blue box is empty, the feed is broken or has no news. Some browsers may still click to open the  news feed direct from the City of Newport Beach.
Here's harbor and moorings news from Google News, and other sources, to within the last hour.
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Plastic in the Bay
Fish, birds, and marine mammals are innocent victims when it comes to plastic in the water. Plastic in the bay is just a tide change away from being plastic in the ocean. Please pick some up; help it find a trash can.  Learn more from the people at SCCWRP. Algalita tells us there is six pounds of plastic floating in the central North Pacific Ocean for every pound of surface zooplankton. Fish, birds, and marine mammals mistake it for food. Scientists performing necropsies on deceased Laysan albatross at Midway Atoll have found so much indigestible plastic in the birds' stomachs there is no room for food. This NMA website is certified powered by 100% wind energy; we're doing what we can to minimize our impact on the environment.
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