Coastal Commission upholds decision by N.B. City Council, Planning Commission on pump station

An appeal filed by Bayside Village Marina on the construction of a new wastewater pump station was rejected by the state Coastal Commission on Thursday with commissioners finding no substantive reason to deny the coastal development permit application submitted by Orange County Sanitation District.

The new project would replace the 4,800-square-foot pump station built in 1966 on East Coast Highway. The station currently pumps wastewater flow from properties east of Newport Bay, including Balboa Island and Crystal Cove, to a treatment plant in Huntington Beach.

The new pump station will encompass around 7,500 square feet but will expand the footprint of the site to 14,592 square feet. As part of the project, two 1,300-foot-long, 24-inch-diameter force mains will be installed. The station will also include a new generator room, electrical room and odor control facility.

Bayside Village Marina is adjacent to the project.

The pump station received its first approvals from the Newport Beach Planning Commission in late January of this year; that decision was then appealed by Terra Vista Management, which owns and operates Bayside Village Marina, to the City Council in April.

Council members went back and forth during the April hearing, with some expressing concern for O.C. Sanitation’s use of eminent domain, which allows the government to take private property for public use even if its owners don’t want to sell. Ultimately the council denied the appeal by majority vote.

Appellant Terra Vista Management stated at the time the project was too large and that the development was inconsistent with the city’s certified local coastal program.

An appeal of the city’s approval was filed with the state Coastal Commission in May, reiterating similar concerns and arguing that the special district could potentially relocate the sewer lift station elsewhere on the Bayside Village Marina site or replace or refurbish the existing pump station; that the project disrupts the balance of land uses present; that the expansion would impact mandated coastal view corridors and that construction could adversely affect coastal resources as construction goes on.

A rendering of what the Bay Bridge Pump Station is expected to look like following construction.

(Courtesy of the city of Newport Beach)

In a report for Thursday’s meeting, Coastal Commission staff said the project was compliant and that it was necessary to address aging public sewer infrastructure.

At the appeal hearing, Terra Vista Management’s president and chief executive Michael Gelfand said there was a “far superior” alternative to the one proposed by O.C. Sanitation. Gelfand said the new pump station, as proposed, would require a complete redesign of the Back Bay Landing project.

“The city of Newport Beach approved it because they thought the eminent domain rendered the whole issue moot, but you, as a commission, have the ability to actually consider [placing the station in the northeast corner of the Back Bay Landing project],” Gelfand said, “which works on many, many levels better. That’s all we’re asking you today to do: Schedule a full hearing so that you can actually look at the alternatives thoroughly before you make your decision.”

O.C. Sanitation director of engineering Mike Dorman said the Bay Bridge Pump Station was critical infrastructure as it handles about 50% of the flow from the city. He said the improvements are necessary due to severe concrete corrosion and an aging infrastructure. He said a new electrical building was needed to meet current codes and reliability standards set by the special district.

Dorman reiterated talks of the sites considered for the project, but they were deemed nonviable or lacked sufficient space. He also rebuffed suggestions by Gelfand that the special district did not consider the northeast proposal, stating that the agency was conducting an environmental impact report and designing when it was told the facility had been moved back to the existing location.

Don Schmitz, president of Schmitz and Associates, and a representative of the O.C. Sanitation, said he did not hear any points made by the appellants in their presentations as it related to the Coastal Act.

“There are five grounds on which substantial issue can be found. That doesn’t mean going back and relitigating things that happened at the local level. It’s whether or not the local jurisdiction faithfully implemented the policies and regulations for the local coastal program,” said Schmitz.

“There was a complete environmental impact report for this project,” he continued. “Fifty percent of the wastewater from Newport Beach goes through this aging facility. [If we] get a failure of this facility, it is going to dump a tremendous amount of pollution into that environmentally sensitive habitat area.”