CORONA DEL MAR TODAY

Council Member Shelves Fire Ring Ban –For Now

Lovers of beach fire rings have been up in arms about a Newport Beach City Council plan to study whether local beach fires could be banned. But for now, those plans have been indefinitely postponed.

At last week’s City Council meeting, Councilwoman Nancy Gardner asked staff to make their research into banning the fire rings a low priority. Last month, Gardner introduced the idea of banning fire rings based on pollution and hazard. Read our earlier story here.

Almost immediately, beach fire fans created a Facebook group that now has more than 1,700 members. Gardner and other council members received dozens of emails and calls.

“To me it was sort of a housekeeping issue,” Gardner told the City Council last week. “Based on the emails I’ve been getting, it is not a housekeeping issue. It’s a very, very passionate subject. People are passionately for them, passionately against them.”

Gardner said that staff should focus now on issues like the budget and labor negotiations.

“I think something with this much emotion can sometimes take so much staff time, and better to take care of it in calmer waters.”

Coastal Commission representatives have said the city could not remove the fire ring without a permit.