Dear Community Members,

The next regular City Council meeting is Tuesday, May 12, starting at 4 p.m. The full agenda can be found here. Here are some of the items that may be of interest to you:

We will start with a study session on a potential self-certification program for building permits. In plain English, staff is looking at ways to make the permit process faster and more customer-friendly for simpler projects, especially for our local business community. The idea is to allow experienced, state-licensed design professionals working on straightforward commercial projects to self-certify compliance under a clear set of rules, while still keeping the right safeguards in place. We are also looking closely at how artificial intelligence could eventually help with plan review. AI has a lot of promise, but it needs more time before it is ready to be responsibly folded into the permit process.

Under Public Hearings, the City Council will consider the next step in a proposed amendment related to affordable housing requirements in the Airport Area, including notification to the Airport Land Use Commission. Affordable housing is an important goal, but requiring affordable units in for-sale housing projects can be difficult to make work, especially for smaller or more complex projects. The challenge is not just the cost of buying the land or constructing the building. Insurance costs for residential projects have also risen significantly, and that added cost can make projects with thin margins even harder to finance and build.

And finally, the City Council will consider dissolving the current Police Headquarters Assessment Committee and creating a new advisory committee composed of three Council members and four residents. It will be an important pivot.

So why is this change being considered?

The current committee was formed to evaluate potential locations throughout the City for a future Police Department headquarters, based on factors such as cost, location, constructability, operational needs and the ability to maintain police services during construction. Through that process, several potential locations were identified and discussed with the City Council and the community, including the current Santa Barbara Drive site, the City-owned property at 1201 Dove Street, sites in the Newport Center area and a portion of Civic Center Park. As we move into the next phase of the conversation, the committee believes it is important to bring residents directly into the discussion to help evaluate the feasibility of these options and provide additional community perspective before any final decisions are made.

As those conversations have continued, I have also heard another common question from community members: Why do we need a new police station?

To answer that, it helps to look at how much Newport Beach and public safety operations have changed over the last 50 years. The current Police Department headquarters on Santa Barbara Drive was built in 1973 and is just over 49,000 square feet. When the station opened in 1974, the department consisted of 157 full-time sworn officers and civilian staff members, serving a population of approximately 53,600 and responding to about 36,000 calls for service annually.

Today, the Newport Beach Police Department is a much larger and more complex operation. The department now has 238 full-time staff and 15 part-time staff, including sworn officers, dispatchers and professional civilian employees who support public safety services throughout the City. The City’s population has also grown to approximately 85,000, and the demand for police services has increased with it. In 2025 alone, the department responded to more than 93,000 calls for service, while dispatchers handled more than 156,800 calls overall.

A department of that size also requires much more than office space. A modern police headquarters must support interview rooms, training areas, dispatch operations, evidence storage, technology infrastructure, locker rooms, secure staff parking, public parking, patrol vehicle parking and space for specialized vehicles and equipment. Patrol vehicles are not simply parked like regular cars; they need secure, accessible areas where officers can quickly begin and end shifts, load equipment, process reports and respond to calls. The current site was not designed for today’s staffing levels, vehicle needs, technology demands or the volume of public safety activity now handled by the department.

In addition to space limitations, the building itself is aging. The Police Department operates 24 hours a day, seven days a week, and that kind of constant use takes a toll on any building. We all understand this with our own homes. Over time, roofs need to be replaced, plumbing and electrical systems need attention, appliances wear out, and sometimes a remodel is no longer enough. City buildings are no different. They age too, and eventually we have to decide whether it makes sense to keep investing in an older facility or plan for a replacement that will serve the community for decades to come.

We are seeing that same issue across other public safety facilities. The City is currently in the process of replacing Fire Station No. 1 on the Balboa Peninsula, which will be the third fire station replacement during my 15 years with the City. These are major investments, but they are also necessary to maintain reliable public safety services.

The current police station was designed around 1970s policing, staffing and technology standards and does not meet current building or seismic standards. Like many older buildings, it has also experienced plumbing, electrical and infrastructure issues over time. Technology has changed dramatically since the building was designed. Back then, coaxial cable was common building technology. Today, public safety operations rely on CAT 6 cabling, fiber optics, body-worn cameras, digital evidence systems, drones, expanded communications systems and secure data storage. The existing building was not designed for those needs, and retrofitting an older facility can be costly and inefficient.

With all of that said, I want to emphasize that no final decision has been made. This process will not move forward quickly or without community input. The City will continue public outreach and will invite residents to share feedback, ideas and questions as we evaluate the future of the Police Department headquarters. Transparency and community engagement will remain central to every step of the process.

Warmly,

Seimone Jurjis, City Manager

sjurjis@newportbeachca.gov