Dredging receives money

Newport Beach City Council members approved $200,000 more for the Newport Harbor dredging project Tuesday. The money, they say, will be used for testing sediment throughout the harbor and will hopefully save the city money in the long run.

Council members unanimously approved shifting the money from the general fund toward the dredging project for additional testing, the first comprehensive test of all the sediment in the harbor ever.

The types and toxicity of many of the sediments in the harbor is what is holding city leaders from starting dredging in the harbor now, city officials said. Federal standards require that certain types of sediment — depending on their toxicity, among other things — be dumped in certain places, with some methods being more expensive than others.

The council has agreed to pay a private company about $300,000 to test sediment throughout the harbor in the hopes that most, if not all, of the land underneath the water can be approved for disposal a few miles off shore — the cheapest way to get rid of it. The alternative, council members said, was to wait for the federal government to pay for the dredging itself, an option that has so far not worked out.

The move is the first step in the city’s newly adopted Dredged Materials Management Plan, which outlines many of the choices council members will face in the coming years as they hope to bring harbor water depths to what they should be, Assistant City Manager Dave Kiff said.

About 60% of the harbor isn’t as deep as it was designed to be, Kiff said. This will be the first full-blown effort to address that in 70 years and allow even the grandest boats access to the harbor.

With Tuesday’s approval, testing in all areas can start as early as this month, with finishing dates projected from November to May.

In other action, the council approved a contract with GMC Engineering Inc. for more than $300,000 to improve the right turn at Pelican Hill Road and Newport Coast Drive, a turn that has proven disastrous for cars and trucks alike. Cement trucks have flipped while trying to turn there, police say.

GMC Engineering Inc. is expected to drop the turn and create a bank so it’s safer for cars coming down the hill, city officials said.

JOSEPH SERNA may be reached at (714) 966-4619 or at [email protected].