Newport council to consider banning jetpacks in harbor
The Newport Beach City Council on Tuesday will consider a complete ban on water jetpacks propelling users above Newport Harbor.
Even though no company currently offers rides using the strap-on devices, city staff and the Harbor Commission are recommending the council close the door on the possibility of a water jetpack business moving in.
Jetpack America, which sold jetpack experiences that gave customers the sensation of flying above the water’s surface, closed in November after operating in Newport since 2011.
Jetpack America President Dean O’Malley told the Daily Pilot last year that he was shuttering the Newport Beach part of the business because of the city’s “very tight restrictions” on it.
The debate over water jetpack use in Newport Harbor peaked in 2014, when the City Council approved a six-month moratorium on such businesses. Area homeowners considered the practice of flying around the harbor with a jetpack too noisy. The gas-powered gear pumps a stream of seawater to propel riders into the air.
“It’s a cross between a vacuum cleaner and sometimes a jackhammer,” homeowner George Farrah was quoted as saying in a 2015 Daily Pilot article. “It’s like having a jet engine overhead eight hours a day, seven days a week.”
That year, the council allowed only one jetpack business to use the harbor, albeit with a year-to-year revocable permit. Jetpack America was chosen above two other applicants. Its permit expired in November.
The city had restricted Jetpack America to certain hours, only one jetback user in the water at a time and location — near the harbor’s turning basin between Lido Marina Village and West Coast Highway.
A company spokesman later said the rules made it hard to turn a profit and “essentially regulated us out of business.”
The council item is part of its consent calendar agenda, meaning it is likely to get adopted without any discussion. The meeting begins at 7 p.m. at City Hall, 100 Civic Center Drive.
The regular meeting will be preceded by a study session at 3:30 p.m. that revisits, in part, the council’s Jan. 14 goal-setting session.
Twitter: @BradleyZint
