Council backs off overlay district, floats restaurant, bar committee

The Newport Beach City Council moved away from supporting increased regulations for bars and restaurants on the Balboa Peninsula during a Tuesday afternoon study session.

Instead, council members spoke in favor of allowing establishments with alcohol licenses to “self-police” to address crime and other nuisances in the area.

The public reaction on social media was swift in response to the proposal for the overlay. Bar owners and patrons said they felt, even without knowing the details of the measure, that it would be unnecessarily restrictive.

The Balboa Peninsula’s accessible beachside nightlife has attracted young people from near and far for decades. However, peninsula residents have long complained about noise, property crime, public urination and other problems caused by waves of people, often intoxicated, walking around late at night.

In February, the City Council directed staff to draft an amendment to the city’s zoning code that would form an overlay district for the peninsula, in essense an added layer of regulations regarding alcohol service at bars and restaurants open past 11 p.m.

Mayor Pro Tem Diane Dixon brought forth the proposal for the overlay district in an attempt to address problems caused by large numbers of intoxicated people leaving bars at the same time.

Police Chief Jay Johnson described a recent call involving a woman who had spent the night drinking heavily at a local bar and stumbled into a stranger’s home on the Balboa Peninsula earlier this month. After the residents kicked her out, the woman entered two other homes before the police caught up with her, he said.

It’s not unusual for intoxicated bar patrons to mistake other people’s homes for their own. People will often call police after waking up to find a stranger asleep on their couch, Johnson said.

“It happens about once a week down there,” he said.

Many residents spoke in favor of increasing police presence in the area during busy nighttime hours.

“The people who come here and behave badly won’t come back, or they’ll change their behavior,” said 25-year resident George Schroeder.

Dixon spoke in favor of creating a Balboa Peninsula Restaurant and Bar Committee, which would consist of the bar and restaurant owners, Dixon, city staff and police officials. The committee could meet monthly to discuss problems and how owners can help remedy the nuisance issues without city interference.

“There’s no one magic bullet that’s going to fix the situation,” Dixon said.

Bar owners Mario Marovic and Jim Walker expressed a desire to work with other operators to improve conditions in the area.

“Give us the opportunity to try and solve this problem,” Walker said. “The overlay as a threat or punishment will not achieve the results you want.”

The City Council will vote on the creation of a committee at a future meeting.