Here are a few items the council...

Here are a few items the council considered Tuesday.

NEW CITY HALL

The council inched toward replacing the overcrowded City Hall

facilities, voting to hire Griffin Structures Inc. for $578,185 to

get public input and create a preliminary design for a new City Hall.

No cost estimates are available for a new facility, but it would be

built where the current complex stands and would include a new fire

station and parking structure.

Council members agree that city workers need more efficient

facilities, but not all of them were convinced that a new City Hall

on the old site is the way to go, and some questioned whether the

community wants to spend money on the multi-million dollar project.

WHAT IT MEANS

Residents will be asked what they’d like to see in a new City Hall

at a series of public meetings beginning in late February. Griffin

plans to bring that input and a basic schematic design back to the

council by August. Any decision to actually build a new City Hall

will require a separate vote.

WHAT THEY SAID

“We are sorely short of space at City Hall, and we need that space

as soon as we can get it,” Councilman Don Webb said.

MEDICAL/DENTAL OFFICE PARKING

It may get a little easier to park at medical and dental offices

in Newport Beach in the future. The council voted unanimously to

approve a more restrictive standard that requires medical/dental

offices to have one parking spot per 200 square feet of office space

-- five spots per 1,000 square feet. The old standard was one parking

spot per 250 square feet, or four spots per 1,000 square feet.

WHAT IT MEANS

The new standard won’t affect projects already in the planning

process with the city, but look for a slight growth in parking

availability as new facilities are developed along Newport Boulevard

and around Hoag Hospital in future years.

WATER QUALITY PROGRAM FUNDING

The city will take $162,000 from tidelands funds to pay for

unanticipated water quality improvement expenses. The costs stem from

compliance with federal rules and required matching funds for a grant

to restore Big Canyon Creek.

WHAT IT MEANS

The city will be able to obtain a grant for Big Canyon Creek

restoration and meet a federal requirement that it work toward

reducing sediment and pollutants in Newport Bay.

-- Compiled by Alicia Robinson