The City Council approved the Aerie project tonight by a vote of 4 to 2.  Nancy Gardner and Steve Rosansky voted against the development.  Leslie Daigle, Don Webb, Mike Henn and Ed Selich voted in favor.  Keith Curry was absent.  Many of you came to the meeting, thanks for your support of the opposition.  We will be posting information in the next week or so about what happens next.  There may be an appeal or it may continue on to the Coastal Commission.  When we have more information, we will post it on the web site.

The Harbor Commission had met on April 8, 2009 to consider the proposed marina portion of the Aerie development.  At that meeting the Commissioners each spoke and expressed their concerns about the size of the dock system, in particular the plan for tie ups for a 100’ yacht and 35’ yacht outside the pierhead line, into the boating lanes of the harbor.  The comments of the Commissioners could be summed up by Commissioner Beek when he stated that a 100’ boat at the pierhead line was ‘insulting’.  After that meeting, the Applicant requested a task force review the decision.  Commissioners Corrough, Rodheim and Lawrenz went out in the harbor, placed buoys around where the docks would be built and determined that the layout was not a concern for recreational boat traffic.  A public hearing was scheduled to hear these findings.

 

The meeting last night began with a presentation by the Harbor Resource Manager, Chris Miller, and comments by the new City Attorney, David Hunt.  Commissioner Corrough gave a presentation about the findings of the task force and recommended approval of the dock system.

 

Commissioner Rodheim again expressed his concerns about the size of the dock system.  He reminded the Commission that Newport Beach is not Miami Beach, that the Channel Reef building should never have been approved, that some of the Lido projects should not have been allowed, and that he had serious concerns about the size of the Aerie project.  He stated that he wanted to put in the report that this location is ‘an awful place to build a marina’.  He concluded that it is just too big and too far out.  He recommended approval of the task force findings, but had serious concerns about all the other issues. 

 

Commissioner Valdez questioned when the bulkhead and pierhead lines were drawn, the response was in 1935.  There was discussion about how appropriate these lines are today and agreement that they should be reviewed and re-drawn.  Commissioner Valdez then pointed out that if they all agreed they should be re-drawn, that they are already too far out, why should the Commission approve the Aerie docks that go beyond the pierhead line. 

 

Commissioner Duffield agreed that a dock system can be engineered today to handle severe weather conditions, but pointed out that when you tie a boat to that dock and there is a storm, the situation becomes very dangerous.  There was much discussion about the storm surge issue and how to handle a 100’ boat during those conditions.  Commissioner Duffield suggested that the 100’ boat would need to be anchored as well as loosely tied, but that anchoring in that location of the harbor presented a new set of problems. 

 

Commissioner Rhyne expressed her concerns about the liability of the City in the event these boats broke loose and caused damage in the harbor.  The City Attorney stated that the City would have no liability in that event.

 

The Commissioners spent more than an hour attempting to frame a motion whereby they could approve the findings of the task force that the dock system would not interfere with recreational boat traffic, but still express their serious concerns over the safety of the tie up of a 100’ boat beyond the pierhead line.  In the end, they reluctantly approved the project with assurances from the City Attorney and the Harbor Resource Manager that they could specify mitigating measures during the permitting process if the project is approved by the City Council.

 

 

The Aerie project has been set for Public Hearing at the City Council on July 14 at 7:00. THIS IS THE MOST IMPORTANT MEETING TO ATTEND. If you are concerned about this project going forward, COME TO THE MEETING. The City Council needs to know that there is public concern about this project. THE MORE PEOPLE WHO ATTEND THE MEETING, THE BETTER THE CHANCES OF THE CITY COUNCIL TAKING NOTICE OF THE PUBLIC CONCERN. You do not have to speak, but your presence is very important. If you would like to speak, you will have between 3 and 5 mins to present your concerns. If you have not already signed the petition, please do so. TALK TO YOUR NEIGHBORS AND ENCOURAGE AS MANY PEOPLE AS YOU CAN TO ATTEND THE CITY COUNCIL MEETING.

The meeting is held at City Hall City Council Chambers, 3300 Newport Blvd. The Public Hearing Notice states that Aerie will be heard at 7:20, time certain.

COME TO THE CITY COUNCIL MEETING!

Send a message to the City Council expressing
your concerns in writing: CityCouncil@city.newport-beach.ca.us

Copy to the City Clerk:  lbrown@city.newport-beach.ca.us

The Habor Commission previously considered the Aerie Marina on April 8th and voted unanimously against the marina as proposed.  The Applicant has appealed and requested another hearing of the Harbor Commission.   The Harbor Commission will again hear this matter on July 8th at 6:00 pm in the City Council Chambers.  If you are concerned about the proposed marina (See The Marina), please attend this meeting and make your concerns known to the Harbor Commission.  You may also write to the Harbor Commissioners at:

jcorrough@aol.com,ralph@rodheim-marketing.com,dz7law@aol.com,tim@tccollins.com,duffy@duffyboats.com,rhyneharbor@aol.com,cmiller@city.newport-beach.ca.us

 

Last night the Planning Commission approved the Aerie project by a vote of 6 to 1 (Commission Michael Toerge was the only dissenter).  The approval was for the full project, not the smaller Alternative 8A proposed at the last PC meeting.

The applicant stated that he wanted the Commission to vote on the original project, not Alternative 8A, since that didn’t offer all of the amenities of the project.   There was some discussion by a few of the Commissioners about the bluff face, and whether Alternative 8A would prevent the possibility of bluff face failure since the sub-basement would be removed and the project would be set further back from the bluff face.  But the Applicant’s architect, Brion Jeannette, and his soil expert, described a technique that Mr. Jeannette said he has used on other bluff properties that would, most likely, prevent this.  He stated that if the bluff face is damaged, he can repair it to look like the original bluff.

Comments by the various Commissioners were favorable towards the project, including the marina.  Commissioner Barry Eaton even made a statement about how the opposition didn’t seem concerned about the truck trips and noise, notwithstanding that he had received a copy of the petition with comments from nearly 80 residents of the neighborhood.  The over-riding concerns expressed in the comments on the petition were specifically about the massive size and scale of the project and the resulting construction issues.  Clearly the Commissioner had not read any of what was submitted to him.

Commissioner Toerge went on record explaining that he would not be voting for approval, again, and he quoted multiple Coastal Land Use Plan policies that the project fails, as well as General Plan land use policies regarding the size in relation to the neighborhood.  His comments were excellent, and he took the time to get them into the public record.

The RFRD group was not surprised about this result, it is what we had expected, although we were encouraged at the last meeting that the Commissioners had requested more time to consider one of the alternatives.

The project now goes to the City Council, which is the forum with authority to make decisions about the project.  The Planning Commission is only an advisory board.

The earliest date the project could appear before the City Council is June 23^rd.  We will let you know as soon as the date is set.  We encourage all those opposed to this project to attend the City Council meeting, to write letters and to make your opposition known to all the City Council members.