Tide may turn in Newport’s favor

June Casagrande

When city officials late last year announced their goal to play a

larger role in county affairs on and in the city’s borders, they said

they were looking for opportunities mutually beneficial to Newport

Beach and to the county.

These supposedly shared opportunities, however, sounded more like

a wish list designed with just the city in mind: taking over control

of John Wayne Airport, the sheriff’s Harbor Patrol and the Coyote

Canyon Landfill.

The first two items initially met with such a chilly initial

response that it seemed city officials hadn’t spent much time looking

for enticements for the county to jump on board.

A council vote on Tuesday makes it clear that the city is indeed

savvy at weighing the county’s needs to help achieve its own ends.

Council members on Tuesday approved a measure that could put about $2

million a year into the county’s general fund without coming out of

the city’s pocket, either. Without spending any more, the city would

gain a great deal of power over tidelands in and on its borders.

“This could give us much more control over tidelands but at the

same time it’s revenue-neutral to us,” City Manager Homer Bludau

said.

Tidelands are an important part of the city’s talks with the

county over what they’ve labeled “sphere issues.” Tidelands are

waterfront properties regulated by the state. The idea is that these

areas should benefit the public sometimes as public land, but often

as waterfront businesses such as the Newport Dunes Resort. The state

requires that some funds generated by tideland uses, such as the rent

the Dunes now pays to the county, must be used to benefit tidelands.

Right now, the county brings in about $2 million a year from the

use of its tidelands in Newport Beach and it puts that money back

into maintenance, improvements and other services in these areas.

In this arrangement, Newport Beach leaders saw an opportunity: The

county is strapped for cash, still wrangling with the aftermath of

its bankruptcy. The city, on the other hand, already spends millions

more than is required each year on its tidelands. The city brings in

about $6 million a year in revenues from its tidelands but spends

about $11 million.

And that $5 million discrepancy spells opportunity. Council

members on Tuesday approved the concept of taking over the county’s

tidelands, collecting the $2 million in tidelands revenue that now

goes to the county and basically giving that money back to the

county. But because the money would come from Newport Beach instead

of straight from tidelands businesses, the county would be legally

freed up to put the $2 million into its general fund.

The $2 million “owed” to the tidelands would become a city

responsibility. But the city is already meeting that responsibility.

Instead of bringing in $6 million in tidelands revenue and spending

$11 million, the city would bring in $8 million in tidelands revenue

and continue to spend $11 million -- still $3 million more than state

law requires.

There would be some increased costs to the city, mainly the added

labor of administering the additional tidelands. But officials

dismiss these costs as minimal. The extra duties could be performed

by existing staff.

And the benefits, they say, are huge. For example, if the city

became steward of the tidelands area at the Dunes, it would mean

that, in the case that someday a hotel wanted to operate there, it

would be the city and not the county that would get to negotiate the

land lease.

“I went through battles over the Dunes a few years ago and believe

me, we’d be better off if the city administered those tidelands,”

Mayor Tod Ridgeway said.

None of this is happening yet. Tuesday’s council vote merely

authorizes city staff members to enter into an agreement with the

county. It’s unclear when or if that agreement will materialize. But,

if it does, it could lay the groundwork for an increased role in the

airport by proving that Newport Beach can find ways to help others in

order to help itself.

* JUNE CASAGRANDE covers Newport Beach and John Wayne Airport. She

may be reached at (949) 574-4232 or by e-mail at

[email protected].