NEWPORT BEACH : City Gets Behind Cleanup Volunteers

Heartened by the efforts of a few community groups to “adopt” portions of the beach and keep them clean, city officials have drafted a program to encourage and regulate the trend.

Since January, two groups in Newport Beach--the Exchange Club of Newport Beach and the Marina Park Homeowners Assn.--have adopted parts of the beach and bay and pledged to keep the areas free from trash and debris. Others are now likely to follow suit.

Under the draft policy, the city will help provide trash bags and trash pickup service for the groups, in return for the volunteer service. However, the city will not provide tools, such as rakes and gloves, and groups must notify the city about their activities.

No commercial organizations will be allowed to participate, and only nonprofit, community service or homeowners groups will be approved.

Groups must pledge to pick up their adopted portion of the beach at least once every three months, and those that do not participate regularly may be dropped from the program. Also, the city encourages groups to clean the beach more often than the required minimum.

Signs praising the volunteer efforts may be paid for by the city, but they would need to be approved on a case-by-case basis. Groups may use temporary signs to publicize their activities the day of the cleanup.

Herbert Williams, a member of the Marina Park Homeowners Assn., first developed the local adopt-a-beach idea when he and his neighbors wanted to clean up the bay beach in front of their homes after early winter storms left trash and natural debris along the shore.

The new policy is expected to go before the City Council in mid-month.