A Fair Policy for Everyone

I hope the Newport Beach City Council on Oct. 8 will adopt the policy on oceanfront encroachments in which its Encroachment Committee invested hundreds of hours. It truly represents a reasonable compromise to all parties involved.

The committee was chartered in April, 1989, to recommend a policy on encroachments into the 35-foot-to-65-foot easement or right of way seaward of the property lines between the Santa Ana River and E Street, and into the 15 feet where the city holds fee title between E Street and Peninsula Point.

Adjacent property owners have certain rights to undeveloped portions of such easements; however, litigation is often required to determine the extent of these rights. Normally such easements are “vacated” to the interest of adjacent property owners.

Such was the case in the Back Bay, where easements were dedicated to the city by the developers of the Bluffs for street access down to what was to have been the Irvine Co. Marina. When it was clear that a marina was not to be built, the easements were vacated to the adjacent property owners--the Bluffs Homeowners Assns.

State law precludes vacating such easements when they are adjacent to waterways; therefore, alternative actions are usually taken.

In Sunset Beach, Orange County owns a 20-foot easement seaward of the private property lines, and, just as in Newport, owners had encroached over the years. The county passed an ordinance, allowing grandfathering of the 20-foot encroachments and establishing a specification and one-time charge of $215 for future encroachments into the easement.

In Newport Beach, the City Council adopted Policy L-7 in 1977 granting a blanket encroachment permit for the 30-foot-to-35-foot easement (which was to have been a bay-front street named Buena Vista) to the adjacent property owners with the requirement that they maintain it in a parklike environment, allowing low fences, patios, etc.

The precedents set in Sunset Beach (granting a 20-foot encroachment) and on Buena Vista in Newport (granting a 30- to 35-foot encroachment) seem to support a 15-foot permit. In most cases, the 15 feet represent less than 3% of the beach width and less than half of the 35-foot-to-65-foot width of the easement.

JERRY COBB

Former Chairman

City of Newport Beach

Encroachment Committee