Happy Labor Day weekend to everyone! The City Council will meet on Tuesday, September 3 at 6:00 p.m. (Closed Session starts at 4:00 p.m.) at City Hall after a nearly one-month hiatus. The agenda is short compared to the last one, but still has some interesting items. It can be found here: https://costamesa.legistar.com/View.ashx?M=F&ID=13267572&GUID=8DCB11B5-A86E-4407-BAC2-2DC2F766C3CE
CLOSED SESSION: There is only one item of interest on this part of the agenda, which is a lawsuit filed by Leslie Murtaugh against the City and Southern California Edison in late 2022. Her claim relates to a fall suffered, allegedly, as a result of uneven sidewalk. This case, despite being filed nearly two years ago, is still in the discovery phase. Ms. Murtaugh’s attorney filed a motion to compel the City to respond to a request for admissions (questions that ask a party to admit or deny the truth of a statement). The City hasn’t filed any response to the motion, so I can’t tell you why it won’t respond to the plaintiff’s satisfaction, but I’m sure that topic will come up in Closed Session.
REGULAR SESSION:
CONSENT CALENDAR: It looks like the City is moving the non-routine items off the Consent Calendar.
· Now and then I look at the Warrant Register (Item 3). The City pays its lawyers a lot of money for the lawsuits it is involved in. For each law firm, there is a list of the lawsuits, but never a breakdown by matter. Having worked almost all my career at law firms, substantial bills are always broken down, so it is very annoying when I see this lack of transparency. I’d like to know what it is costing the taxpayers for these lawyers to work on cases, such as the City’s pursuit of sober living homes, those cases don’t seem to be going in our favor lately.
Item 6 is the biennial review of the City’s conflict of interest code. That’s nice, but the City still doesn’t have an ethics policy to go along with it.
Item 7 is the award of a contract for the physical upgrade to the City’s Communication Center. The contract with ITZEN Architects is for $178,304, but a 10% contingency of $17,800 is added. I’m most interested in the upgrade of the communications system itself. For more, see Rebuild of Fire Station 2 below.
OLD BUSINESS: The only item is the second reading for the extension of the Auto Club extension of development agreement for its site on Fairview Road. The first reading passed by a vote of 7-0. Nothing new here, so let’s move on.
NEW BUSINESS: Here is where it gets interesting.
Item 1 – Screening for General Plan Amendment for 146 units at 3150 Bear Street. This is a “first sniff” for the City Council of this project. You may recall the Planning Commission hearings and an appeal filed by a neighbor of this property, which is the former Trinity Broadcasting site, for a CUP for an event center. But first, think back to 2022 when the City Council put Measure K (which took away voter approval for large projects) on the ballot, and Council Member Loren Gameros requested that this property, despite not being on a “major commercial or industrial corridor,” be put on the Measure K map for rezoning. Obviously, the property owner has had designs on rezoning it before now. The owner is the guy with the expensive car collection who wanted to make it into an event center. He bought the property after the language school (approved right before the pandemic) pulled out. The language school bought it after it sat empty for years when Trinity Broadcasting died. Now he has a buyer, Meritage Homes, a small California homebuilder.
This is another project where the developer is cramming in as many units as possible. Meritage wants to build 146 homeownership units, 20 of which would be two-story single-family homes with standard two-car garages, situated around the perimeter of the property that abuts existing single-family homes. The remainder of the units would be four-story stacked flat condos with tandem garages. All of this is on a 6.11-acre parcel (23.9 du/ac). While the project isn’t subject to our new Affordable Housing Ordinance (because of Gameros’s demand that for-sale housing be excluded), it includes eight deed-restricted units for very-low-income earners. Under the State density bonus law, the developer can exchange the affordable units for increased density, reduced parking, or reduced private open space. Meritage is requesting a “concession” increasing the maximum height allowed from 27 feet/two stories to 50 feet, 6 inches/four stories. That is much taller than any of the residential properties in this area.
There are a few amenities for the residents of the project such as a tot lot and barbecues. Most of the units are built right out to the interior streets, except for 56 units that face a small interior courtyard, but the façades on the private streets are just a row of garage doors, and that doesn’t encourage social interaction amongst neighbors.
Because it is using the State density bonus law, the developer wants a waiver because the project is deficient in providing the open space required by the Costa Mesa Municipal Code. Only the single-family homes that back up to the existing homes have any private open space. State law allows one concession for the requested 20% density increase of very-low housing, which the developer is using for the increased height, so any other concession must come in the form of a waiver from the City Council.
This isn’t an ideal location for housing. While most of the units will be away from the freeway as some of the guest parking is located next to the 405, I suspect the eight deed-restricted units will be the ones closest to the freeway. The project is within walking/biking distance of some shopping and services, although the bike lanes on Bear St. need a lot of improvement. The façades are predictably boring, but at least there is some articulation and gables that make it compatible with the neighborhood. Meritage will keep some of the landscaping along Bear St. and some of the messy sidewalk-lifting Ficus trees on the interior as well.
The fire gate on Olympic Avenue will remain as the only other access is off of Bear Street, but a pedestrian access point will be added at the end of Olympic so nearby residents can walk through the project to Shiffer Park. A signalized intersection will be installed at the entrance to the parcel, including a crosswalk across Bear Street to Shiffer Park. Increasing the public access through the project to Shiffer Park is the only community benefit being offered.
What about traffic? The City has estimated there will be 1,009 daily trips generated by the project. Yet no traffic study is required because the City estimated that the peak hour trips will not exceed 100. However, the trips from this project will be a drop in the bucket as those 1,009 trips will join the traffic from the large Related Bristol and Village Santa Ana projects (combined, those two projects will have about 5,400 residential units, up to 300,000 square feet of office space, and up to 430,000 square feet of retail space; my estimate is the daily trips will be around 11,000). Add in the upzoning from Costa Mesa’s new Housing Element for the area north of the 405 (up to 90 du/ac), and any more projects coming to Santa Ana, and this area will have LA-style traffic. Expect the intersections on and around Bear St. to fail at peak hours, as Santa Ana residents don’t want traffic to go through its city and requested the traffic from its projects go down Bristol and Bear Streets. And Santa Ana is not paying Costa Mesa one dime in traffic impact fees.
Could this project be better? Probably. Is it better than the eyesore that is there now? Yes. It gets bonus points for being for-sale housing, providing a variety of housing, some of which will be affordable, and for probably having enough guest parking (note there is no street parking on Bear St., so it better have enough parking). It is located near public transportation, bike lanes, and some shopping and services, but no market or Target-like store is nearby. The elementary school for this area is Paularino School. The stress level of the bike lanes is high, as the lanes aren’t protected and the bridge over the 405 doesn’t have any fencing. Bear and Baker Streets are on the safe route to school for Paularino School, but I wouldn’t let kids ride bikes on Bear St. during rush hour.
There is no vote on this because it is just a screening, so expect the City Council to make a few comments and then send it on to the Planning Department. Since the project is subject to CEQA, we will have to wait until the Planning Department’s initial study is done before we know the possible environmental impacts and what type of report will be necessary. Also, Staff will need to do an analysis of the fiscal impacts on the City.
What should you be asking the City Council? Here’s a short list:
o How will the City mitigate the traffic impacts of this project, along with the cumulative traffic impacts of the large projects going forward near the Costa Mesa/Santa Ana border? Has the City taken into account the traffic impacts from the upzoning contemplated by the Housing Element update?
o How does the City intend to increase the safety of the nearby bike lanes and the bridge over the 405 on Bear Street?
o The City is park poor. This project will add at least another 400 residents who may want to use Shiffer Park (that crosswalk is needed for a reason). How does the City intend to mitigate the impacts of the increased use of Shiffer Park?
o Why aren’t there more community benefits being offered? Perhaps Meritage could help fund the rebuild of nearby Fire Station 2 (see below).
Item 2 – First Reading of Ordinance to Increase the City Council’s Compensation. This item was taken off the agenda at the last meeting because the meeting ran late and the City Council Members decided they’d had enough for the night. As I wrote before, this is a raise for the City Council by $587.86 per month from a base salary of $904.40 to $1,492.26 per month, plus health benefits of $2,550.00. That is a 65% increase in base salary, but the Council compensation hasn’t increased in about 14 years and Costa Mesa has fallen behind other cities. However, this is a part-time job, and most politicians aren’t doing this because they intend to make a career of it. It is more of a volunteer position and, as with most volunteer or nonprofit organizations, you get paid peanuts.
The City’s priorities seem misaligned. The City keeps losing important department heads and managers. In my career, I observed two reasons why companies didn’t retain workers: (1) a toxic work environment, and (2) not paying enough. I suggest the City Council cut that pay raise in half for now and allow the rest to be spent on hiring and retaining important City personnel.
OTHER ITEMS OF INTEREST:
FAIRVIEW PARK STEERING COMMITTEE SPECIAL MEETING ON AUGUST 21. Despite a request from Committee members that they get an opportunity to add to the draft recommendations for the updated Master Plan, Staff refused to do that before they are presented at the Master Plan Update meeting on Wednesday, September 4 at 6:00 p.m. at the Senior Center. The last meeting for this Committee ran long and Committee members were not afforded an opportunity at that time. What Staff and the Consultant came up with is just a start and, while the Committee did collectively approve the Staff/Consultant’s recommendations at the prior meeting, at that time the members requested the opportunity to add to them. Those Steering Committee members will now have to wait until the revised Master Plan makes its way to the Parks and Community Services Commission to individually make suggestions, along with the rest of us.
How doth the little busy bee Improve each shining hour, And gather honey all the day From every opening flower!
Isaac Watts (circa 1715)
The Fairview Park Administrator’s report was remarkably interesting. It was disclosed that Crotch’s Bumble Bee, which is now extinct in areas north of Sacramento, has been found in Fairview Park. This species of bee is protected under the California Endangered Species Act and is a candidate for listing as a threatened or endangered species. Developers and others have been fighting its listing as an endangered species, but their lawsuits have been thwarted by the State. If it is listed, new regulations, including survey processes and conservation practices, will impact the use of land where the bee is found. Perhaps this tiny bee will be the thing that stops the flying of aircraft in the park.
MEETING FOR REBUILD OF FIRE STATION 2. This is one of the oldest fire stations in the City, built around 1966, and it is showing its age. The plans for the station look great. My better half and I agreed the façade with the gabled roofs fit with those in the neighborhood (the other design was more like Fire Station 1).
Unfortunately, there were more firefighters than residents at the meeting. The mayor and a few City Council members and a Planning Commissioner helped increase the audience, but it is sad that residents missed an opportunity to see the inside of the Fire Station and talk to the Chief and others. I asked the Chief about the possibility of the City providing a service similar to Nixle and other alert systems. I worked in Laguna Beach, I relied on their alert system to let me know if there were any incidents, like a wildfire, impacting the ability to get in or out of that city. The Chief indicated that the City intends to provide that service and the new head of communications has it on the project list. Unfortunately, this is one where I say, “Don’t hold your breath,” despite the urgent need.
The cost to demolish and rebuild the Station will be $12 million, $10 million of which will be funded by a bond. The bond will be paid back over 20 years through the City’s general fund.
LOOK OUT!
Construction at Adams Avenue and Pinecreek begins Tuesday, September 3. This is a multi-modal project that has been in the works for a long time and is greatly needed. Per the City, the work includes removal of existing eastbound and northbound right-turn slip lanes and construction of traditional right-turn lanes, installation of new multi-use paths for pedestrians and bicyclists, concrete curb ramps, pavement striping and markings, green bicycle conflict zones and bicycle boxes, traffic signal modifications which include new poles and video detection equipment and slurry sealing of the project area. Construction hours will be weekdays, Monday through Friday from 7:30 a.m. through 3:30 p.m., excluding holidays.
As mentioned above, the City is presenting a workshop on the Fairview Park Master Plan Update on Wednesday, September 4, from 6:00 to 8:00 p.m. at the Senior Center. We were promised no sticker games, but there will be “an interactive exercise for participants to share their thoughts on the future of Fairview Park.”
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