NEWPORT BEACH : City to Consider Quality-of-Life Issues

The City Council today will discuss a variety of issues related to the day-to-day quality of life in the city.

Up for a first reading is an ordinance limiting operating hours for unattended businesses, such as coin-operated laundries, self-service car washes and arcades. The businesses have been operating without hour regulations. The new ordinance would require such businesses to close from 11 p.m. to 6 a.m.

In its afternoon session, the council is scheduled to hear a report cable television regulation within the city. Federal Communications Commission regulations allow the city to regulate only one of the two cable franchises because the other’s customer base is too small.

Assistant City Manager Ken Delino noted in a report to the council that several cities in the southern part of the county have hired a consultant who reports Dimension Cable customers are being overcharged, but intricate FCC rules prevent the city from effective protest.

The city’s other cable provider, Comcast, offers Newport Beach subscribers the lowest basic service rates in the county.

The City Council will also hear a report on what must be done to try to bring John Wayne Airport into the city’s “sphere of influence,” a designation given to unincorporated areas that receive services from the city.

The Orange County Local Agency Formation Commission would have to approve any effort to bring an area into a city’s sphere of influence. The primary advantage of realignment are that the city would hold more sway over activities within a sphere of influence area. Also, a sphere of influence is often a precursor to annexation.

The council is also expected to set a plan to raise private alarm response fees and a proposed set of citywide noise regulations for a public hearing Oct. 10.