List of environmentally delicate areas could grow

June Casagrande

NEWPORT BEACH -- A comprehensive inventory of all environmentally

sensitive habitat areas in the city will soon begin -- the first such

study in nearly 20 years.

City Council members on Tuesday approved a contract of up to $67,684

with Coastal Resources Management to conduct the far-reaching

environmental survey as part of the local coastal program the city is

developing. The program, required by the California Coastal Commission,

lays out rules for development along beach areas.

“Our last comprehensive study was in the 1980s,” said Patrick Alford,

a senior planner for the city. “There have been site-specific

environmental projects, but nothing comprehensive since that time.”

The two-part study will first look at coastal areas to identify places

where plant and wildlife species thrive to help the city draft its

coastal plan. Then the contractor will broaden its view, inventorying all

habitat areas in the city to be considered as part of the general plan

update.

“This is an important element both for our visioning process and for

the local coastal program,” Mayor Tod Ridgeway said.

The study will also look at potential threats to these sensitive

habitats, such as silting up of marsh areas or overgrowth of one plant

species affecting other plants and animals.

The coastal program now in effect designates about a dozen areas as

environmentally sensitive habitats, including Buck Gully, the Santa Ana

River mouth, North Star Beach, West Bay, the Upper Newport Bay Ecological

Reserve, the San Diego Creek, an area called Eastbluff Remnant, the mouth

of Big Canyon, Newporter North, Morning Canyon, the Corona del Mar Marine

Life Refuge and the Castaways area.

The new survey will likely add to that list, perhaps including inland

spots such as the areas in Newport Coast now designated to be used as

open space.

The city is under a tight deadline to apply to the coastal commission

for approval of the local coastal program. To meet the June 2003

deadline, city staffers suggested bypassing the process of calling for

bids on the job. Instead, they recommended giving the contract to Coastal

Resources Management, which has done environmental work for the city

before.

Alford said the city’s goal is to submit to the coastal commission a

first draft of the coastal program by the fall.

* June Casagrande covers Newport Beach. She may be reached at (949)

574-4232 or by e-mail at o7 [email protected] .