Community Members:

Opioid overdoses can be serious and life threatening. Over the next few months, as part of the City’s ongoing commitment to addressing this serious issue, we will begin educating on this topic and providing free Naloxone kits to help stop opioid overdoses.

Naloxone (also known under the brand name Narcan) can reverse an opioid overdose from drugs such as fentanyl, heroin and various prescription medications. Naloxone nasal spray is easy to use, works almost immediately and is not addictive. 

The Newport Beach City Council recently accepted opioid settlement funds that will be used for distribution of Naloxone, and community outreach and education. In 2021, a $26 billion settlement was made by opioid manufacturer Janssen Pharmaceuticals and distributors to resolve thousands of opioid-related lawsuits nationwide. California will receive about $2 billion from the settlement over the next 18 years, and Newport Beach will receive a portion of the funds annually (about $400,000 so far).

The City will use this funding to make Naloxone more readily available in the community, and for an outreach campaign on the use and availability of Naloxone, as well as the dangers associated with the misuse of opioids. It will be part of a comprehensive effort involving our current law enforcement efforts and increased legislative advocacy to address the illicit use of opioids, including fentanyl. The City Council's current Legislative Platform calls for holding drug traffickers accountable, stopping the transport of narcotics across
the border, adding harsher penalties for fentanyl sold or distributed to youth, and
preventing the use of social platforms to illegally sell and distribute opioids. 

This week, the City held the first of several Naloxone training sessions for City employees. Over the next several months, we will begin distributing free Naloxone kits to City businesses, together with education on how to use Naloxone effectively. We will also partner with Newport-Mesa district high schools in the fall.  

We will keep our residents updated frequently as we work to reduce opioid overdoses through Naloxone distribution, education, law enforcement and legislative advocacy efforts.

City Manager, Grace K. Leung

The Be Well mobile crisis response team operates in Newport Beach 12 hours a day, 7 days a week to respond to mental and behavioral health crises. The mobile unit is staffed with mental health specialists and works closely with the City’s police and fire departments.

This week, the Be Well team:

• Transported two people to a crisis stabilization facility for treatment.
• Transported three people to a social service agency for services after resolving mental health crises 
• Transported a person to a mental health assessment appointment.
• Transported a person to a hospital after resolving a mental health crisis. 
• Transported a person to a mental health appointment for treatment after resolving a mental health crisis. 
• Educated tourists and residents on the Be Well OC services and campus.

TO REACH BE WELL: The mobile crisis team is dispatched through the Newport Beach Police Department. To request service, dial 911 or call the Police Department's non-emergency line at 949-644-3717. 

The next City Council meeting is Tuesday, July 25. Items of interest are highlighted below. The entire agenda and reports can be viewed here.

The regular meeting will begin at  4:30 p.m. Agenda items include:

• Consideration of an appeal to a June 22 Planning Commission decision related to a soil gas remediation project at the former Ford Aeronutronic facility. The former facility, which operated for about three decades on about 200 acres bound by Bison Avenue to the north, MacArthur Boulevard to the east, Ford Road to the south, and Jamboree Road to the west, was used for aerospace and electronic research, development and production by the Ford Motor Co. Under the oversight of the Santa Ana Regional Water Quality Control Board, cleanup and remediation efforts were made to address environmental impacts of past facility operations before the site was redeveloped with residential housing in the 1990s. However, in 2016, levels of volatile organic compounds were determined to be above screening levels, warranting action. The proposed solution is a soil vapor extraction and treatment system consisting of a small building, an underground pipe network, and 13 extraction wells, which would operate for about 12 months. The City granted a limited term permit to allow construction of the remediation system, which has been appealed by several area residents. In June, the Planning Commission voted to uphold the permit. 
• A proposed amendment to the Newport Place Planned Community and introduction of an ordinance to change the minimum affordable housing inclusionary requirement from 30 percent to 15 percent. Newport Place, about 145 acres of land near John Wayne Airport, has been identified as a possible location for future residential housing development opportunities. In 2022, a study from a City consultant concluded that inclusionary housing percentages higher than 15 percent would likely render most residential projects financially infeasible.
• A resolution to allow collection of certain sewer and recycling fees and charges through the property tax roll. About 5,300 Newport Beach households are sewer and/or recycling only customers and do not receive a City utility bill. This is the second year these charges would be placed on the property tax roll. Adding sewer and recycling charges on property tax rolls is a common practice in California local agencies for customers who do not receive electric and/or water service from the billing agency.