New SWAT vehicle, beautification project, pickleball courts addressed by Newport Beach City Council

The Newport Beach City Council authorized the replacement of the vehicle used by the police department’s SWAT team and crisis negotiators on Tuesday, signed off on the finishing touches for the recently built pickle ball courts and approved landscaping on public and private property near a major entry point to the city.

Those decisions were packaged together as items on the consent calendar, which passed unanimously at the Council’s most recent meeting Tuesday.

New Crisis Response Unit vehicle

The new vehicle approved for purchase at the meeting will cost over $382,000. It will be used by the SWAT officers and negotiators who comprise the police department’s Crisis Response Unit as a mobile command center during emergencies.

It’s built on a heavy duty truck frame, but smaller and more maneuverable than the aging 2003 Freightliner van it’s replacing. And it can be serviced by the department’s in-house mechanics unlike the older vehicle, which had to be sent out to specialists for maintenance.

Finishing touches on new pickleball courts

The City Council also acknowledged the completion of work on the Newport Coast Pickleball Courts Project, closing out an over $1.12 million contract with Green Giant Landscape, Inc.

The courts have been open to the public since May. However, crews were still had a “short punch list of items that required addressing,” city staff wrote in a report.

The project was initially budgeted at over $1.08 million when the deal was awarded to the landscaping company in October 2023. The increased cost was due to the removal and replacement of a deteriorating wrought iron fence and sidewalk surrounding the new courts.

In addition to the construction of eight pickleball courts, a shaded viewing area, benches, trash cans, a bike rack and two water fountains were also installed at the site.

Beautification of Coast Highway leading into Corona Del Mar

Plans to redo landscaping at a major entry point to the city at an estimated cost of $125,000 also moved forward at the meeting.

City staff described the 1-mile stretch of Coast Highway between Seward Road and Pelican Point Drive that leads into Corona Del Mar from the east as “a patchwork of different landscape palettes.” Crews will renovate the area to make it appear more uniform.

The scope of work will include both city-owned and private property, specifically four adjacent homes at 301, 321, 341 and 345 Evening Canyon Drive, as well as 12 homes on Cortland Drive adjacent to a retaining wall along the highway. The city will enter into a reimbursement agreement with the homeowners associations related to those properties to help cover the cost of new landscaping.

The project also includes the installation of a new irrigation system to help maintain the new landscaping. The city will cover the cost of watering the area, which was estimated at about $1,500 a year.