Newport plan would let Peninsula Point homeowners keep some beach encroachments

Newport Beach city leaders may soon consider a proposal to allow a group of homeowners on Peninsula Point to keep grass, walkways, patio furniture, yard adornments and other items that over the years have crept over their property lines onto the public beach.

But it likely won’t be free for homeowners, according to a plan presented to the City Council on Tuesday.

The issue of beachfront encroachments has been a sore spot for decades among Newport Beach homeowners, city officials and the California Coastal Commission, which manages development along the coast.

But after years of working alongside homeowners, city staff thinks it has a solution that will appease all parties.

“I think everyone wants this to be resolved in an equitable manner,” Mayor Diane Dixon said.

The proposal would allow the roughly 58 homeowners with encroachments — usually grassy areas or other plants — to keep them up to 15 feet past the public right of way along their properties. Homeowners would have to remove any encroachment that extends past 15 feet.

While some homes have de facto yards that are in the plan’s allowable footprint, others extend up to 68 feet onto the public sand, according to city staff.

City Council members indicated during a study session Tuesday that they are in favor of moving forward with staff’s plan at a later meeting. The Coastal Commission also would have to sign off on the plan before any encroachments could be removed.

If both agencies approve, the city would put up the money to remove any encroachments past 15 feet and the homeowners would pay reimbursement. The cost of the removal and maintenance is estimated at $210,000, according to a staff presentation.

Homeowners who want to keep their 15-foot encroachments would have to pay for a permit. The exact cost hasn’t been determined, but it could range up to $3,656 per year.

At that price, the city would receive up to $212,000 in annual revenue, which the Coastal Commission could require it to spend on measures to improve beach access, officials said.

The council is expected to discuss at a future meeting how it might spend the potential revenue.

In 2012, the Coastal Commission issued notices of violation to 15 properties along East Oceanfront on Peninsula Point for encroachments onto the public beach in violation of the Coastal Act. An additional 43 properties were identified as having encroached on public property, but the commission agreed to hold off on sending violation notices to those homeowners after the city indicated it was working on a more comprehensive solution to the issue.

A representative of the homeowners did not respond to a phone call seeking comment Thursday.

It’s not clear how long the encroachments have been in place, but Councilman Ed Selich estimates they started in the 1960s when the beach population was smaller.

“It started by people expanding their yards into the sand,” he said. “Some number of years ago, the city tried to get it under control, but it’s been an issue that hasn’t gone away.”

This isn’t the first area of the city that has had beachfront encroachments.

The city and West Newport homeowners agreed on a policy in 1991 that allows residents there to pay an annual fee of up to $1,037 for a city permit to encroach onto public land. The city uses the revenue for improvements such as gutters and disabled-accessible walkways in West Newport, according to Selich.