Council members shuffle the deck in Newport Finance Committee

The Newport Beach Finance Committee is seeing a shuffle in its membership.

City Councilman Kevin Muldoon has left his committee post, with Councilman Scott Peotter taking his place. Mayor Pro Tem Will O’Neill takes over as committee chairman, replacing Councilwoman Diane Dixon, who remains on the panel. The seven-member advisory committee is made up of three City Council members and four other residents, though it currently has a vacancy.

Muldoon suggested the changes at Tuesday’s council meeting, and the rest of the council accepted.

Peotter recently asked the council to change the committee so no council members are on it, arguing that would put all committee members on even footing, without council members getting deference from city staff. The council rejected the change, although at the time, Muldoon told Peotter he could have his seat if he felt the committee didn’t have the best representation.

The committee now includes William Collopy, Larry Tucker and Joe Stapleton in addition to O’Neill, Peotter and Dixon. Muldoon will nominate a resident to fill out the roster.

In other city board and commission appointments, the council confirmed Kurt Kost for the Board of Library Trustees; incumbent Sharon Wood for the Civil Service Board; incumbents Ira Beer and Bill Kenney and new member Don Yahn for the Harbor Commission; Hassan Archer and Diane Daruty for the Parks, Beaches & Recreation Commission; incumbent Peter Koetting for the Planning Commission; and Wayan Kaufman for the Arts Commission, displacing incumbent Judy Chang.

The new terms begin Sunday and run for four years.

CdM utilities undergrounding

Utilities in a Corona del Mar neighborhood are going underground — for real this time.

The City Council approved a bond authorization for nearly $2.96 million to help the 214 households of a neighborhood assessment district bounded roughly by Acacia Avenue, Bayside Drive, Carnation Avenue and East Coast Highway bury their overhead utility wires. Construction is expected to begin in July, with hookups starting in September 2019 and the whole project wrapped up in fall 2020.

The resident-initiated process took about three years, including a false start last year after construction bids to Southern California Edison came in $2.1 million over estimates. Steeper-than-expected bids and delayed timelines have become an increasingly common frustration for the city, which works with Edison and residents to coordinate undergrounding. City staff has said high overhead appears to be one reason for cost overruns.

Newer neighborhoods, such as in Newport Coast, are built with utilities underground, and a premium is included in the cost of the homes. For older areas that make the switch, it’s usually funded through assessment districts initiated by residents.

That self-funded option, managed by Edison with some financing and permitting coordination by the city, can cost as much as $10,000 to $25,000 per home, plus $3,500 to $5,000 per home to tap into the grid.

In the case of CdM, construction was supposed to begin last September. But when bids came in at $5.9 million — about 55% over the initial $3.8-million estimate — the city took over the bidding process, collecting 13 bids to Edison’s four and bringing the price tag back to $3.8 million.

Some prepaid assessments have offset how much the district’s residents need to finance.

Support for O.C. Housing Trust

The council gave its approval to send a letter supporting a state bill that would form a housing trust to address homelessness in Orange County.

Assembly Bill 448, a product of Assemblyman Tom Daly (D-Anaheim), would create the Orange County Housing Trust to secure and consolidate funding. The regional public-private approach would enable cities, the county and businesses and philanthropists to pool resources to build 2,700 supportive housing units countywide.

Newport Beach has been assigned about 70 of those units. A 12-unit apartment complex called the Cove, which opened this year in West Newport, counts toward the goal.

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