Seacoast Lighting, No Parking on 13th Street Topics at Wednesday Meeting

The Imperial Beach City Council will meet Wednesday at 6 p.m.

A meeting was held last week, and meetings are typically held every two weeks, but a Dec. 19 meeting was rescheduled for Dec. 12.

If a 2013 meeting schedule is approved Wednesday, Council will not meet again until Jan. 23.

A closed-door meeting to discuss possible legal action against the city will be discussed at 5 p.m. prior to the start of the public meeting.

Council will vote whether to approve a street pavement preservation plan. The ordinance seeks to prolong the life of streets and asks public utilities that cut into the street to adequately repair roads after work is done.

This is agenda item 4.2.

Council will consider a contract for the Eco Bikeway on 7th Street and from 3rd to 7th streets. This matter was on last week's agenda but was rescheduled to be decided Dec. 12.

This is agenda item 6.1.

The city will hear plans for the construction of 216 three-story town homes at what is now Bernardo Shores RV Park. Click here to read more.

This is agenda item 6.2.

The city will consider whether to invest $30,000 in the July 4th Big Bay Boom fireworks show. The show became famous this year when the entire stockpile of fireworks that was supposed to go off in 15 minutes went off in 28 seconds.

A study released at the end of November found that the Big Bay Boom brings $10.6 million to the region and hundreds of thousands of dollars in free marketing. The city is reluctant to invest in the show since IB will likely be in poor financial condition for the next couple years.

No signs have been found in sales tax data or talks with the IB Chamber of Commerce that show an economic benefit that is worth $30,000, said City Manager Gary Brown in a staff report.

Since the elimination of the U.S. Open Sandcastle Competition, July 4 has become the single largest day of beach attendance for the year in Imperial Beach. Fireworks were cut from the 2012-13 budget in June.

Click here to read more or see the results of an IB Patch poll asking readers if IB should keep fireworks.

This is agenda item 6.4.

City Council will again discuss the possibility of pedestrian-scale lighting on Seacoast Drive. Councilman Ed Spriggs and the Seacoasters, a group of waterfront residents and business owners, have advocated for pedestrian-scale lighting since a study was compiled by city staff in March.

Councilman Spriggs asked that the topic be addressed again at last week's meeting. Spriggs has maintained that pedestrian-scale lighting is necessary to provide the kind of environment that will attract new business and visitors and motivate guests at the new Pier South to leave their rooms. New Councilman Bobby Patton also expressed an interest in pedestrian-scale lighting during his recent campaign for office.

Pacifica Companies, owner of the new hotel, also supports the idea.

A source of funding for the lighting is uncertain, a staff report said.

This is agenda item 6.9.

The Imperial Beach Redevelopment Agency Successor Agency, also known as City Council, will receive a due diligence review that is a requirement of state law as part of the process to dissolve redevelopment agencies.

The review goes over the assets of the now defunct Imperial Beach Redevelopment Agency.

This is agenda item 7.1.

The city will seek to revise municipal code related to the use of signs in Imperial Beach with agenda item 6.3.

Under proposed changes to the city's sign laws, sign spinning on city property or within public right of way will be illegal. Billboards will also be illegal "to the fullest extent legally possible."

To avoid trucks and other vehicles parked for prolonged periods of time beyond 72 hours, city staff is asking City Council to pass a resolution and allow the installation of "No Parking" signs on the east side of 13th Street between Calla and Cypress avenues.

The is agenda item 6.5.

City Council will discuss a federal plan to protect natural resources at military installations called an Integrated Natural Resource Management Plan (INRMP). The plan is meant to guide commanding officers in stewardship activities and to incorporate efforts practiced by other governing entities in the area.

The document has already been approved by California Fish and Game and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, a staff report said.

Comments will be limited to Naval Base Coronado installations in or near Imperial Beach: Silver Strand Training Complex-South and Naval Outlying Landing Field Imperial Beach.

The INRMP suggests revegetation projects to benefit the endangered Western Snowy Plover to protect again erosion and sea level rise. City staff recommend that the Navy join future sand replenishment to protect IB's beach economy and the bird.

Staff also recommend that the Navy take into account sea level rise studies being done by the Port of San Diego and NOAA as "areas owned by the Navy are subject to inundation in the future" to go along with their own studies.

The Navy could get involved with invasive plant species eradication efforts, the staff report said.

This is agenda item 6.6.

Annual assignments to boards, committees and other governing bodies will be made.

This is agenda item 6.7.

The 2013 Imperial Beach City Council meeting calendar will be reviewed and approved.

This is agenda item 6.8.

Imperial Beach's representative on the Board of Port Commissioners Dan Malcolm will give an update on Unified Port of San Diego activities.

This is agenda item 1.2.

The warrant registrar states that the city spent $1.7 million from Nov. 22 to Nov. 30, more than $900,000 of which goes to the San Diego County Sheriff's Department for August and September law enforcement services.