ON THE WATER -- Following in his father’s footsteps

Mathis Winkler

BALBOA ISLAND -- It’s going on 90 years now since Joseph Beek first

came to the city to pay for college by selling lots on Balboa Island.

Since then -- 1913 -- his family name has been intertwined with

Newport Harbor. Beek founded the Balboa Island Ferry, fought attempts to

open the harbor for commercial use and at some point chaired a citizen’s

harbor committee that secured federal funds to develop the harbor.

The latter role’s not the only way in which Beek’s son, Seymour, has

followed in his father’s footsteps. As the chairman of the city’s ad hoc

harbor committee, the younger Beek has helped draft a so-called harbor

and bay element for Newport Beach’s general plan, which serves as a

visionary road map for the city’s future.

Preserving the diverse uses of the bay, harbor and shoreline,

maintaining and improving public access to the harbor and waterfront

areas, and improving water quality are among the goals of the proposed

addition to the general plan. Once the public hearing process on the

document gets under way, City Council members could approve the addition

by this summer, city officials say.

“It’s not going to create any sudden changes,” Beek said, sitting in

his father’s former office that overlooks the ferry ramp on Balboa

Island. Down to a wooden trash bin -- and except for a computer -- little

has changed here since the elder Beek died in 1968. Since retiring from

his work as a program manager at Ford Aerospace 10 years ago, Beek has

served as the ferry’s president.

“We have set down some goals that have really never been written

down,” he said. “It’s just to formalize the direction we’d like the

harbor to take.”

Encouraging marine-oriented businesses around the harbor is the

document’s overarching theme, Beek said.

“If there’s no planning, marine business just disappears,” he said,

adding that developers are more likely to turn the valuable waterfront

lots into upscale homes.

“If you let that go unchecked, you lose all the marine business,” he

said. “And that would ultimately change the character of the harbor.”

Along with adding the harbor element to the general plan -- while city

officials weren’t sure if this would be a first in the nation, they said

they had not come across a similar document anywhere else -- the

committee has also proposed the establishment of a harbor commission,

which would function in an advisory way similar to the city’s arts,

planning and parks, beach and recreation commissions.

Some council members, such as Mayor Gary Adams, had initially

expressed concern about adding another body to the city’s bureaucracy.

But after a presentation during last Tuesday’s council meeting, Adams

said that he felt more comfortable with the idea.

For Beek, a simple reason called for the birth of a commission.

“People tend to forget that the city really grew up around the

harbor,” he said. “It’s something that sets us apart. It keeps us from

being just another beach town. There are lots of wonderful things about

Newport Beach, but it centers all around the harbor.”

Would he be willing to serve on the commission?

“Yes,” he said, smiling. “For a while anyway.”