Ocean-Floor Mapping Project Gets Board OK

The Board of Supervisors on Tuesday approved an ocean-floor mapping project that is required before the county can proceed with a major dredging of Upper Newport Bay.

The mapping, which will be done in partnership with the U.S. Geological Survey, will examine an area four miles off the Newport Beach coast where the county has deposited material collected in previous dredging projects. The county will spend up to $63,000 on the job.

The goal is to determine how sea life in the area has been affected by the deposits, and whether additional materials can be dumped there.

Robert G. Fisher, director of the county’s harbors, beaches and parks division, said the mapping should be the federal government’s responsibility, but the county had little choice but to complete the work.

Officials have long discussed the need to dredge Upper Newport Bay, which is gradually becoming a meadow as sediment builds up. The county, however, is still seeking the money needed to embark on the project.

“We need to deal with this pretty soon,” Fisher said.

In other action Tuesday, the board postponed until May a decision about placing a measure on the November ballot that would limit supervisors to two four-year terms in office.

The board voted unanimously to wait until the California Legislature considers a constitutional amendment that would impose term limits on all elected officials in the state. The amendment requires two-thirds majority passage in both houses of the Legislature, as well as approval from state voters.

Supervisor Marian Bergeson, who proposed term limits for the supervisors, said she doubted the amendment would advance through the Legislature but was willing to postpone a vote on her proposal for a month.

“All we want is to give the voters the opportunity to indicate their wish concerning term limits,” she said.

Term limits were a central part of a county charter proposal that voters soundly rejected in March. Still, opinion surveys have found wide public support for limits.