Newport Beach Fire Rings: A Message from Dave Kiff, City Manager regarding Newport Beach Fire Rings
Fire Rings. What I’ll describe here is an “interim” plan between now and the time that the Coastal Commission reviews/permits a permanent plan (likely to be May or June). For those following this issue, the 18 fire rings to the West of the Balboa Pier parking lot remain charcoal-only. The ones on the east (near Peninsula Park) can have wood. In Corona del Mar, the rings that are more widely-spaced and closer to the water can have wood. The rings more closely spaced and close to the grass must have charcoal. The proper spacing is not complete yet – but more will be done Monday and Tuesday to bring the areas into full compliance.
What about the Permanent Plan(s)? We soon (even as I write this) will place seven different “permanent” plans for fire rings on our “community engagement” web portal. If you haven’t used it before, I hope you’ll have some fun with it. We’ve used it for the West Newport Beach Community Center last year, and would like to use it more often. It gives anyone a chance to weigh in on ideas, ask questions, and see options (as well as see what others are saying). If you are someone who doesn’t like using sites like this, you are always welcome to look at our main web page on fire rings (the plans are there, too), and just send in an e-mail about it. Or, you can always call me – I am happy (um, mostly happy…) to talk about it.
I know that the plans have generated and will continue to generate a lot of discussion. As you contribute your thoughts, please remember this: This isn’t an easy issue to solve. The Coastal Commission staff has told us in no uncertain terms that wood-burning rings are important to them, as the rings are an important low-cost amenity for the region’s beachgoers. We are “out of compliance” right now. The City Council – and arguably the folks who went to the polls in November – has expressed a desire to bring wood back. But we can’t put wood back in the rings where they sit today without spacing them out a lot more – that’s now the law. Spacing them out means that more people could see rings nearby. Even if all of the rings were kept in the same general area as they are today (that’s Plan #2), new groups of people would have rings nearby. But AQMD has also said that if they are spaced properly (100’ from each other), then the health impacts of woodsmoke are lessened.
People feel very strongly about their perspectives on fire rings, and things get cranky if we aren’t civil in our discussions. So please help us by offering constructive, productive, neighborly thoughts. What might you do if you were making the decision? The websites you will want to look at here are:
Weigh in on the alternative plans here at Connect Newport Beach: http://www.
More info about fire rings on the City’s web page here: http://newportbeachca.gov/