Residents and mooring permit holders press council over proposed mooring fee hikes and Tidelands oversight

Public comment at the meeting strongly focused on mooring-permit fees, transferability and the city's management of public tidelands.

The Newport Beach Mooring Association (reading a prepared letter) urged the council to expand the composition of a proposed Public Lands Trust Management ad hoc committee (Resolution No. 26-2026-12) to include representatives from every category of tidelands users — resident and non-resident mooring permit holders, yacht-club affiliated permittees and at least one residential pier permit holder — and to require an open, stakeholder-driven nomination process rather than appointments made solely at the council's discretion.

Cheiley Hilkema, identifying herself as a mooring permit holder, said the city intends to raise mooring fees for mooring permit holders ‘‘3 to 500%’’ while continuing to allow residential pier permit holders to pay lower fees and transfer privileges. She said mooring permit holders have faced unequal treatment for decades and cited a duty under a "Beacon Bay bill" and the California Constitution to avoid discriminatory rates or gifts of public tidelands.

Other commenters—including Jennifer Creston and letter-writers read into the record—pointed to the California Coastal Commission’s earlier 9–1 rejection of a harbor-commission plan to realign mooring fields and warned that unilateral fee changes or poorly coordinated decisions could alter the character of the harbor and harm long-standing permittees. Jim Mosher and Chris Bliss urged greater transparency and stakeholder inclusion, noting the State Lands Commission had criticized past processes for lack of stakeholder engagement.

No council action on mooring fee changes or the composition of the proposed ad hoc committee is recorded in the public portion of the transcript; the item and related stakeholder concerns were presented during public comment and via written letters. Council members and staff were asked to consider expanding stakeholder representation and to ensure the city's administration of tidelands meets trustee obligations under state guidance.