Published November 8, 2026
NEWPORT BEACH | SURF & COAST | NOVEMBER 8, 2026
The giant Lower Newport Bay dredging job has been the harbor’s main event. But anyone with a slip off Balboa Island, Lido or the Peninsula knows the channel isn’t the only spot that gets shallow.
On Nov. 5, the city’s Water Quality/Coastal Tidelands Committee parked two harbor items for future meetings. One is the Lower Bay dredging project’s completion. The other is in-harbor nearshore dredging, sediment testing and RGP-54. There was no discussion and no vote. The committee also proposed skipping December, which would make the next meeting Jan. 7, 2027.
RGP-54 is the city-run permit that lets dock and pier owners do small maintenance dredging without starting from scratch with every agency. According to a 2025 Water Board notice, the limits are:
- work between the bulkhead and pierhead lines
- down to 10 feet below mean lower low water, plus a 2-foot allowance
- up to 8,000 cubic yards per project
- 75,000 cubic yards a year harbor-wide
The city fee is $1,810 this fiscal year, plus a $200 state certification check. Approval takes roughly 60 to 90 days once the application reaches the agencies.
The catch is the mud itself. Keeping RGP-54 valid has required re-studying the harbor’s nearshore sediment every five years. In July 2025, the city applied to renew the permit with no changes. The city’s website still lists the Army Corps permit dated 2020, and we haven’t confirmed whether the renewal is final.
Translation for dock owners: the big dredge is its own city project. The shallow water under your boat runs on a separate permit, a separate process and your fees.
When this comes back in January, the questions are simple. Is the permit current? Is new testing coming? And who pays for it?
Photo: Yavi Yener / Unsplash
Sources
- Water Quality/Coastal Tidelands Committee Agenda, Nov. 5, 2026, Items 6(e)–(f) and 8
- Santa Ana Regional Water Quality Control Board Notice 302025-09: Regional General Permit 54 (July 2025)
- City of Newport Beach: Dredging Permits
- The Log: Newport Beach to conduct sediment sampling for dredging permits
Help us out, Newport.
Read next
Surf & CoastLobster Season Is On in Newport Beach. How to Hoop Net Without Getting a Ticket.From the jetties to skiffs off the harbor mouth, Newport's lobster crowd is out after dark. The rules, in plain English.Read story →Suggestion 1 of 5
Surf & CoastWest Newport Is Getting $1.5 Million in Trucked-In Sand. The 62nd Street Groin Is Still a 1974 IOU.City Hall voted 5-0 to haul river sand into West Newport. The groin it planned at 62nd Street back in 1974 is still missing.Read story →Suggestion 2 of 5
Surf & CoastWest Newport’s Beach Is a River. City Hall’s Paying $1.5 Million to Truck It Back.Sand used to ride down the Santa Ana River for free. Now Newport’s paying $1.5 million to truck it into West Newport.Read story →Suggestion 3 of 5
Around NewportNewport-Mesa High School Students Can Take College Classes for Free This SpringHere's something Newport families might actually want to get ahead of: local high school students can take college classes this spring without paying tuition.Read story →Suggestion 4 of 5
Surf & CoastWhat’s Going Up at 10th Street Beach on the Balboa Peninsula? Locals See Seawall Work, City Records Are ThinCrews are working beside the seawall at 10th Street Beach after Bay Street flooding. Here’s what the video shows—and what city records don’t yet explain.Read story →Suggestion 5 of 5