Community Members:

The fires in Maui and Hurricane Idalia in Florida serve as recent reminders that disasters can strike at any time. Throughout September, which has been designated as National Preparedness Month, the City of Newport Beach will highlight some of our emergency preparedness tools and practices, along with educational resources for residents to become better prepared.

If you are new to emergency planning, or could use a refresher, a great place to start is the "Newport Beach Ready" Emergency Preparedness Guide produced by our Fire Department. The guide contains critical information on water and food storage, building an emergency kit, evacuation checklists, basic first aid, animal preparedness, and tips on what to do in specific events. The guide is in PDF form to allow for easier printing (we recommend residents print copies as references in the event of a power outage). 

The City's Disaster Preparedness website has additional information and videos on how to prepare for a variety of natural and man-made emergencies, such as earthquakes, fires, tsunamis, storm flooding, power outages, and acts of terrorism. It also includes a list of partner agencies, such as FEMA and ReadyOC, along with links. 

Other helpful resources include the City's Emergency Operations Plan, which details the City's response to an emergency event, and the Disaster Communications web page on how to prepare to contact family and loved ones during an emergency. 

If you haven't done so already, I encourage you to sign up for regional and local emergency notifications. 

• Major Newport Beach and countywide emergency alerts will be broadcast through  the AlertOC mass notification system, operated by the County of Orange in collaboration with local cities. Through AlertOC, time-sensitive voice messages from the County of Orange or Newport Beach can be sent to your home, cell, or business phone. Text messages can be sent to cell phones. AlertOC can also send messages to email accounts and TTY devices. 
• For Newport Beach emergencies, significant traffic impacts and police activities you can subscribe to the Police Department's Nixle alerts here or, even more simply, text your zip code to 888777 to opt-in. You can configure your Nixle account as desired to receive text messages, emails, and voice mails to cell phones and landlines.
• Please note that during a serious emergency, with a need to communicate life-saving information quickly, the City will utilize the Wireless Emergency Alert (WEA) system. The WEA system sends text message alerts to all cell phones within a designated geographic area, with no sign-up or subscription required. Because it reaches all cell phones, residents and visitors alike, WEA is a critical component of the City's emergency alert systems.

if you would like in-depth training on emergency preparedness, along with hands-on first aid and rescue techniques, consider joining Newport Beach's Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) program, taught by City firefighters and lifeguards. The CERT training is designed to help residents assist themselves, their families and neighbors in the event of a major disaster where first responders may not be immediately available. You can go here for more information on CERT, and here to apply for the program. 

City Manager, Grace K. Leung

The full Buck Gully trail is now open to hikers after sections were closed in August for repairs.

The Irvine Ranch Conservancy, under City contract, has completed repairs to 4,300 feet of trail, from the easternmost bridge to the intersection of the Bobcat Trail. This section is most susceptible to wet conditions and was significantly impacted by the winter rains.

Repairs included hardening the tread, recontouring sections of trail, cleaning out existing drains and installing additional drainage. Some habitat restoration was done to help mitigate erosion and fencing installed to reduce off-trail activity. With the rehabilitation project complete, all 3.2 miles of trail throughout the Buck Gully Reserve is now open.  

The Buck Gully Reserve consists of 254 acres of lush open space owned by the City of Newport Beach, home to diverse flora and fauna and is explored by more than 200 visitors each day. 

The City recently welcomed students to the 50th class of the Newport Beach Citizens' Police Academy.

Over the next few months, students will participate in informative presentations and practical demonstrations with a variety of Police Department personnel. Activities include a police facility tour, a jail tour, a simulated car stop exercise, firearms instruction in the shooting range, fingerprinting, a crime scene investigation challenge, and more. Each student also has an opportunity to join a police officer for a patrol car ride-along.

The Citizens' Police Academy is 12 weeks, with three-hour classes on Wednesday evenings. Sessions are held twice a year in the spring and fall. The next class will begin in March, 2024.

For more information or to apply for the next class, please visit the Newport Beach Police Department website.

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 five people to the sobering station at the Be Well campus.
• Transported a person to the hospital after resolving a mental health crisis.
• Collaborated with the County’s Crisis Assessment Team and Psychiatric Emergency Response Team to place a person on a psychiatric hold for treatment.

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, September 12. Items of interest are highlighted below. The entire agenda and reports can be viewed here.

The regular meeting will begin at 5 p.m. Agenda items include:

• A temporary agreement to allow the Orange County Sanitation District (OC San) to use Lower Castaways Park for a construction staging area. OC San will begin replacing and upgrading a critical part of Newport Beach's wastewater infrastructure, the Bay Bridge Pump Station at 250 E. Coast Highway, beginning in June 2024. OC San has requested to use a portion of the City owned property Lower Castaways Park, 100 Dover Dr., for a staging yard during project construction.
• A resolution of intent to override the Orange County Airport Land Use Commission's (ALUC) finding of inconsistency for Housing Element implementation noise-related amendments. This agenda item is the first of a two-step process that would override an ALUC decision related to the City of Newport Beach's recently updated General Plan Housing Element. The ALUC determined that the City's Housing Element was inconsistent with the John Wayne Airport's land use plan. The City Council may overrule that decision by adopting a resolution of intent to override, followed by a second public hearing to adopt a resolution to override. 
• Consideration of a non-exclusive, 4-year commercial solid waste franchise to Robert’s Waste & Recycling of Santa Ana. Newport Beach uses a non-exclusive commercial franchise system to manage commercial waste collection. This system allows the City to meet the waste collection needs of the business community while complying with State law.
• An appointment to fill an unscheduled vacancy on the Board of Library Trustees.