Fire-ring proposals light a fire under residents

Newport Beach residents spoke out Tuesday night against the City Council’s recent decision to bring wood-burning fire rings back to the city’s beaches.

Some speakers who addressed the council decried wood-burning rings entirely, while others advocated for the rings to be kept in their historic locations at Corona del Mar State Beach and near the Balboa Pier.

Photos emailed by residents to the City Council show a large, wood-folding table partially burned and left on top of a fire pit, as well as empty liquor bottles and other trash strewn along the beach.

The council, residents say, has a duty to prevent these types of nuisance problems, as well as address the health effects caused by wood smoke traveling into nearby homes.

“It’s not like being around a bonfire where you can pick up your chair and move,” said resident Janet Brown. “I can’t pick up my house and move it.”

In late January, the city submitted seven possible arrangements of 60 fire rings as part of its application to the California Coastal Commission for a coastal development permit.

Any change to the configuration or the density of the fire rings requires Coastal Commission approval, according to a staff report.

The Coastal Commission will review each of the plans, and either accept or modify one, which will be brought back to the City Council for ratification.

Plan 1, which was endorsed by a majority of the council, would allow 18 wood-burning fire rings at Corona del Mar State Beach, 26 near the Balboa Pier, nine north of the Newport Pier and seven at the west side of the Newport Dunes lagoon.

Plan 2 would place all 60 rings at CdM State Beach and Balboa Pier. However, the footprint of the rings would cover more beach area.

Alternative plans submitted to the Coastal Commission include keeping 60 wood-burning rings in their current location, but spacing them along the beach to achieve the required 100-foot distance, or placing rings along the stretch of beach between the Santa Ana River and 15th Street in addition to CdM State Beach and the Balboa Pier.

City staff also proposed removing half of the wood burning rings during the winter, when demand is lower.

Several residents questioned why the council is considering expanding the footprint of the rings.

City Manager Dave Kiff explained that it is not possible to have 60 wood-burning rings on the beach while maintaining its current footprint at CdM State Beach and near the Balboa Pier because of the South Coast Air Quality Management District’s rule that the rings must be spaced 100 feet apart.

In July 2013, the AQMD amended its Rule 444 to require a 700-foot buffer between bonfires and homes and designate “no-burn days” when fine particulates are at unhealthy levels. The policy is a softened version of a proposal that would have banned all beach bonfires in Orange and Los Angeles counties.

In response, Newport Beach began enforcing an interim ordinance that limited fuel in fire rings to charcoal. The AQMD considers charcoal cleaner burning than wood.

However, the California Coastal Commission has indicated that it likely wouldn’t approve of charcoal-only fire rings, Kiff said.

The commission and AQMD have argued for legal authority over the issue for more than two years, often leaving Newport Beach in the middle.

Plan 7, which city staff also submitted to the Coastal Commission, would make all the fire rings along the beach charcoal-only. The plan garnered 69 votes — the most of any of the options — in a recent online survey conducted by the city.

However, Kiff said it is unlikely that the Coastal Commission will approve of charcoal-only rings.

The agency is in favor of a plan that includes 60 wood-burning rings, which Coastal Commission staff believe promote open and affordable recreational access to the beach.

“These are not just our beaches,” Kiff said. “These are the public of California’s beaches.”