On February 10, 2026, the Newport Beach City Council voted to adopt Resolution 2026-12, formally creating a two-member Ad Hoc Committee to review and respond to concerns raised by the California State Lands Commission regarding the city’s harbor mooring program. The committee will consist of Mayor Pro Tempore Noah Blom and Councilmember Joe Stapleton, who previously served as a Harbor Commissioner.
Councilmember Stapleton has been an early and vocal supporter of several harbor-related initiatives currently under scrutiny, including the Open Water Initiative Mooring Realignment Plan, the Mooring Rate Increase Plan, and the City-Owned Mooring License Plan. Those initiatives are among the policies examined in a recent State Lands Commission staff report evaluating Newport Beach’s compliance with state tidelands trust requirements.
The Ad Hoc Committee structure allows the two councilmembers to meet privately under provisions of the Brown Act, which permits less-than-quorum meetings to occur without public notice or participation. During the February 10 meeting, the City Council did not take action to require public involvement in the committee’s review process, despite multiple speakers urging greater transparency.
According to the resolution, the committee’s role is to study a condensed, 39-page version of the State Lands Commission Staff Report, drawn from a full report exceeding 800 pages, develop recommendations, and present those findings to the full City Council at a later date. The State Lands Commission has indicated it expects to see measurable progress on addressing its concerns within the next three to six months.
Public comment during the meeting reflected ongoing concern within the harbor community about the city’s handling of mooring policies and the decision-making process surrounding them. During general public comment, several speakers emphasized transparency and fairness. Adam Leverenz urged the council to make the process more open, while Coeli Hylkema raised concerns about what she described as discriminatory impacts related to mooring rates. Chris Bliss referenced positions and sentiments previously expressed by the California Coastal Commission in relation to harbor management issues.
When the council moved to the Consent Calendar, where Resolution 2026-12 was approved, additional speakers voiced opposition specifically to the formation of the Ad Hoc Committee without formal public participation. Jerry Du Pont read a letter into the record opposing the resolution, while Jennifer Kresten and Adam Leverenz reiterated calls for transparency. Wade Womack cited his First Amendment right to speak and objected to what he characterized as a closed process for addressing matters that directly affect harbor users.
Despite those objections, the City Council approved the resolution as presented, moving forward with the two-member committee structure and without incorporating public participation into the committee’s work. Under the adopted framework, any recommendations developed by the Ad Hoc Committee will be brought back to the full council for consideration at a future meeting, at which point public comment would again be permitted.
The decision comes at a critical time for Newport Beach, as the State Lands Commission continues its review of the city’s harbor operations and compliance with state requirements governing public trust lands. How the city responds in the coming months could shape future policies related to mooring alignment, licensing, and rates, as well as the broader relationship between the city, harbor users, and state oversight agencies.
