INSIDE CITY HALL Here are a few...

INSIDE CITY HALL

Here are a few of the issues the council considered Tuesday.

NEWPORT SPORTS MUSEUM

The council approved a general-plan amendment to increase the area

the Newport Sports Museum can develop by 1,550 square feet.

Museum officials requested the amendment to accommodate the

enclosure of a yet-to-be-developed, 780-square-foot patio and an

already-built 770-square-foot second-floor addition built without

permits.

Five council members were present with Gary Adams and John

Heffernan absent. Council member Steve Rosansky recused himself, even

though it had been determined that there was no conflict of interest

based on the fact that Rosansky, who is running for election after

being appointed last October, will be holding a campaign fundraiser

at the museum.

WHAT IT MEANS

The museum can expand.

WHAT WAS SAID

“[Museum owner] John Hamilton is such a good corporate citizen,

and the public schools visit the museum during the school week; it’s

just a great asset for the city,” Mayor Tod Ridgeway said.

RECOVERY HOMES

ZONING

The council approved changes to a law that the council had already

approved concerning drug and alcohol recovery homes. Because some

significant changes were being introduced, the council conducted

another first reading of the law Tuesday.

The law will further regulate the city’s drug and alcohol

recovery homes. Residents have complained that the homes generate

noise, litter and other problems in their neighborhoods.

The changes are: adding legislative findings to clarify the

purpose and intent of the law; modifying the definition of a term to

eliminate “transiency” as a criteria, except in the case of group

living homes in certain areas; and incorporating conditions to

address concerns of residents who live next to some group-living

homes.

WHAT IT MEANS

The council will hold a second reading of the law before it can

take effect.

WHAT WAS SAID

“I thought the changes that were made were an attempt by the

council to be fair,” said Gerry Marshall, president of Narconon

Southern California. “Unfortunately, I believe that the ordinance

really came about because of just a few neighbors who were

discriminating against people in recovery ... I think it’s a policy

that the city would usually want the majority of people to back.”

TRAFFIC COMMITTEE

The city created a Neighborhood Traffic Calming Ad Hoc Committee

to establish a council policy addressing residential traffic

concerns, including how to identify community traffic problems and

what traffic-calming techniques will be supported by the city.

The committee will comprise Councilmen John Heffernan and Don

Webb, along with staff support from officials like City Manager Homer

Bludau and Public Works Director Stephen Badum.

WHAT IT MEANS

This committee will now work on drafting a council policy

addressing residential traffic concerns.

WHAT WAS SAID

“We do have occasional requests from residential neighborhoods to

calm the traffic, and we historically have always opposed that,

because our fire chief and our police [chief] opposed traffic calming

that would impact the response time by police or fire,” Ridgeway

said. “But because this is a national concern in neighborhoods, and

there seems to be a lot more technology and/or acceptable traffic

calming methods, that’s why we went ahead and formed a committee --

to study the national trends and the latest and greatest

traffic-calming methods that are available to us.”

CITY ATTORNEY

The council approved Assistant City Atty. Robin Clauson to be

acting city attorney until a permanent replacement for City Atty. Bob

Burnham, who is retiring Saturday, can be found.

A recruitment drive for the position, headed by Bob Murray and

Associates of Roseville, has begun. The recruitment process is

expected to take three months.