Newport looks at a port master plan for harbor projects

Newport Beach is considering a so-called port master plan that would give the city greater control over harbor capital improvements.

City Manager Dave Kiff floated the idea to the City Council at its annual planning session Monday, describing the port master plan as an in-the-water equivalent to a state-sanctioned Local Coastal Program. With a Local Coastal Program — like the kind Newport has had for about a year — a city “stands in the shoes” of the California Coastal Commission to issue permits for development on land close to shore, Kiff said.

Without a port master plan, projects ranging from dredging of harbor channels to private pier repair must be permitted directly by the Coastal Commission.

Councilman Scott Peotter said that can take well over a year for relatively minor projects like widening a home dock by a couple of feet.

The state permits also are costly, which discourages people from improving their properties, said Mayor Marshall “Duffy” Duffield.

“It’s just too expensive. And then it just spirals where there aren’t any contractors,” Duffield said. “Since there’s no permits there’s no work. So if you do want something, you pay through the nose.”

Duffield said harborfront properties are the most valuable in the city and that they drive tax revenue and shouldn’t deteriorate.

Currently, ports with their own master plans are larger commercial complexes such as the ports of Long Beach, Los Angeles, San Diego and Hueneme in Ventura County.

Newport Beach would need state legislation to get a port master plan, Kiff said.

“This is a fairly expensive endeavor to get this legislation through, but I don’t recoil from that, because it would save resources in the long run,” he said.

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