On the Agenda: Nov. 18 City Council Meeting

The next meeting of the Newport Beach City Council will be on Tuesday, November 18 at 4 p.m. The full agenda is available here. 

Agenda items include:

• A study session discussion on a potential Underground Utility Assessment Loan Program. The loan program would be designed to assist property owners experiencing financial hardship in paying assessment and private connection costs associated with the formation of future underground assessment districts. Staff will lead a presentation and receive direction from the Council. 
  
  
• A purchase agreement with Indiana-based Model 1 Commercial Vehicles to acquire six new trolley vehicles. The new trolleys would support an expansion of the popular summer trolley service to Balboa Island and Corona del Mar beginning in 2027, building on the success of the popular summer Balboa Peninsula Trolley. The City has secured more than $2.6 million in Measure M2 grant funding from the Orange County Transportation Authority (OCTA) to help purchase the new trolley vehicles and operate the expanded service from 2027 to 2031. Due to manufacturing lead times of more than a year, the trolleys are expected to arrive in early 2027, allowing the City to increase its fleet to 11 vehicles and begin the expanded service in summer 2027.
  
  
• A cooperative agreement with OCTA to study potential relocation options for the Newport Transportation Center. Under the proposed agreement, OCTA would lead and manage the study and the City would fund half the cost, up to $250,000. The study will evaluate the existing location, the City's preferred site at 3848 Campus Dr. and other possibilities. The study will also examine operational needs, environmental factors, equity considerations and federal requirements to ensure the center can continue to function as a key regional transit hub. 
  
  
• Approval of a development agreement and affordable housing implementation plan for a proposed housing project to redevelop the MacArthur Court Campus in the Airport area. The proposed redevelopment would retain the existing high-rise office towers and replace several older low-rise office buildings with two five-story residential buildings with 700 rental units and 10,000-square-feet of retail space. No construction plans would be approved at this stage; future design review and permits would be required before the project could proceed. The development agreement and affordable housing implementation plan would secure development rights for the housing and outline public benefits, including funding for MacArthur Boulevard improvements, expanded public open space and construction of up to 49 affordable housing units at an off-site location.  
  
  
• Certification of Responsible Housing Initiative petition and consideration of options. The Newport Beach Stewardship Association submitted a voter initiative seeking to amend the City’s General Plan to allow construction of 2,900 affordable housing units for extremely low- to moderate-income households. Following certification by the Orange County Registrar of Voters, the City Council must choose one of several next steps: 1) Request a report analyzing the initiative’s potential impacts on land use, infrastructure, City finances, and services; 2) Adopt the initiative as submitted; or 3) Place the measure before voters either in a special election or on the November 2026 General Municipal Election ballot. 

Grace K. Leung

City Manager, gleung@newportbeachca.gov 

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City Council Meeting Information

The Newport Beach City Council meets on the second and fourth Tuesdays of most months (the exceptions are August and December). Typically, there is a Study Session that starts at 4 p.m. Study sessions are times for the Council to take a deeper look at a specific issue, or hear a presentation, that might eventually lead to a specific and more formal action. A closed session often follows the Study Session. Closed sessions are typically to address legal, personnel, and other matters where additional confidentiality is important. The Regular (evening) Session typically starts at 6 p.m., and often has a specific listing of different items ready for formal votes. Items on the “Consent Calendar” are heard all at once, unless a Council member has removed (aka “pulled”) an item from the Consent Calendar for specific discussion and separate vote. If an item on the agenda is recommended to be “continued”, it means that the item won’t be heard nor voted on that evening, but will be pushed forward to another noticed meeting.

Public Comment is welcomed at both the Study Session and the Regular Session. The public can comment on any item on the agenda. If you want to comment on a Consent Calendar item that was not pulled from the Consent Calendar by a Council Member, you will want to do so at the time listed on the agenda – right before the Council votes on the entire Consent Calendar (it’s Roman Numeral XIII on the posted agenda). If an item is pulled, the Mayor will offer that members of the public can comment as that specific item is heard separately. Additionally, there is a specific section of Public Comment for items not on the agenda, but on a subject of some relationship to the city government. If you cannot attend a meeting and/or want to communicate with the City Council directly, this e-mail gets to all of them: citycouncil@newportbeachca.gov. The City Manager also get's a copy of the email, because in almost all cases it’s something that the City Manager follows-up on.

The Council meets in the Council Chambers at 100 Civic Center Drive, off of Avocado between San Miguel and East Coast Highway. There is plenty of parking in the parking structure. You are always welcome to attend in person, but you can also watch on TV, Spectrum channel 30 and Cox channel 852 or stream it on your computer.

This Insider’s Guide is not an attempt to summarize every item on the Agenda – just the ones that seem of specific interest to the City Manager. You are encouraged to read the full agenda if you wish.

To subscribe to direct email communications from the City Manager's Office, including The Week in Review and On the Agenda, please click here. 

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