NEWPORT BEACH CITY COUNCIL WRAP-UP

Here are a few items the council considered Tuesday.

BACK BAY SCIENCE CENTER

They caused oohs and ahs among nature lovers, but the osprey pair that hatched babies on Shellmaker Island in May ended up costing the city nearly $200,000 in construction delays. Work had begun on the Back Bay Science Center, a $6-million water testing and research facility, but had to be stopped until the federally protected birds fledged their chicks.

The City Council wasn’t content on Tuesday to blame the ospreys for an increase in fees for the construction manager, project manager and architect. The council was asked to approve spending $197,736 more on those three contracts.

Councilman Ed Selich said it bothered him that the city is being charged for 15 weeks of labor when workers couldn’t have been doing a whole lot, and Councilman Tod Ridgeway asked to postpone a vote on the fee increases until the council could hear more justification for them.

In a 5-1 vote, the council approved continuing the item to a future meeting to get more information. Mayor Don Webb voted against the continuance and Councilman Keith Curry was not at the meeting.

WHAT IT MEANS

The council will hear more at a later meeting about why the city should pay nearly $198,000 more to contractors to cover a three-month delay in construction of the Back Bay Science Center.

PLANNING APPEALS

It should again take only one council member to appeal a decision of top planning and zoning officials and the planning commission, the council decided. Since 2004, council rules have required at least four of the seven council members to agree to review a decision of the commission or the planning and zoning administrators.

The change to four members was made because so many decisions were being called up, Councilman Tod Ridgeway said. “It was being abused almost weekly,” he told his colleagues.

Councilman Steve Rosansky said the requirement of four votes was a concern because “it gives a perception of Brown Act violations,” but the council rejected his suggestion that two votes be required to appeal a planning decision.

Council members voted, 4-2, to bring back a zoning code change allowing any one council member to call up a planning or zoning decision for review. Webb and Rosansky voted against the decision. The resolution changing the code will be voted on separately later.

WHAT IT MEANS

If council members approve a zoning code change they asked for, it will only take one vote instead of four to appeal a decision of the planning commission or the planning and zoning administrators.

— Compiled by

Alicia Robinson