THE POLITICAL LANDSCAPE:Council considers encroachment

Newport Beach oceanfront homeowners might get to keep their encroachments onto city property, but it probably won’t be cheap.

Some owners of beachfront homes in West Newport and Peninsula Point have let landscaping and structures — patios and walls, for example — creep over their property lines. A city policy allows the encroachments under certain circumstances, but the rules are a bit murky concerning Peninsula Point.

The city has been looking into the issue since last summer after a newspaper columnist began poking around — to the annoyance of some residents.

Residents in West Newport can pay the city an annual fee based on how many feet they’re encroaching into public space, and the City Council on Tuesday mulled altering its policy to allow something similar in Peninsula Point.

The most West Newport homeowners pay for encroachments is about $965 a year, Newport Beach Assistant City Manager Dave Kiff said. That’s perhaps some of the cheapest beachfront property in Newport Beach, but Peninsula Point isn’t likely to get the same deal.

The difference is that in West Newport, the encroachments are on a city-held easement for a street that was never built, but the residents may own the underlying land, Kiff said. But in Peninsula Point, the city owns the property, or so officials believe, and the charter says the city can’t sell or give away beachfront land.

“This is clearly beachfront property that has arguably been given away at this point,” Kiff said.

Now the council is looking into letting encroaching homeowners in Peninsula Point lease up to about four feet of city land. That way, they could keep patios and walls that are already built.

But what about the cost? “I think it should be fair market value, so it should be appraised,” Kiff said.

What if residents in Peninsula Point say they should get what West Newport gets?

“They may argue that, but there isn’t a charter prohibition against what’s going on in West Newport,” Kiff said.

The council could take up the issue again early in 2007, and the California Coastal Commission likely would have to sign off on the council decision.

PLANNING POLICYWith last week’s easy reelection safely under their belts, Newport-Mesa’s state assemblymen are getting ready to roll out their legislative agendas for the 2007-08 session.

They’ll probably get their committee assignments in December. Costa Mesa Assemblyman Van Tran, like a true policy wonk, said he wants to stay on the banking and finance and the business and professions committees, and he’s angling for a spot on the utilities and commerce committees.

Newport Beach Assemblyman Chuck DeVore hopes to keep his committee assignments from last session, but he could also be in line for a leadership post, after backing new Assembly Republican Leader Mike Villines.

DeVore particularly wants to stay on the budget committee to be a cautionary voice. State spending has gone unchecked, and this year’s one-time windfall of capital gain taxes won’t be repeated, so the budget deficit is likely to grow, DeVore said.

Add to that a major healthcare initiative Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has planned and changes to new, more stringent accounting standards, and the deficit of about $5 billion will at least double.

“If that healthcare initiative includes any type of entitlement, I frankly don’t see where we’re going to get the money from,” he said.

As for their own initiatives, Tran and DeVore have an ambitious list.

DeVore is working on a program of incentives and penalties to encourage employers to verify employee Social Security numbers, and a plan to use leading-edge science to prevent urban runoff while streamlining the approval process for building new homes.

Tran said his agenda includes a second try at a bill to eliminate 13 state boards and commissions whose members get full-time salaries for part-time work; he’ll also try to get some old or obsolete laws repealed, and he’s researching a bill that would discourage voter intimidation like the incident in the 47th District Congressional race, when a candidate sent letters warning Latino voters they could be deported for voting.

AN A FOR BUSINESS VOTESThe California Chamber of Commerce gave Newport-Mesa state Sen. Tom Harman a high rating for his pro-business votes on legislation, he announced last week.

The chamber gave him 92%, or an A, for supporting bills the chamber considered a priority, according to a statement from Harman’s office.