Measure Y Gets The First Test Tuesday

FIRST MEETING WITH NEW (OLD) FORMAT
The Costa Mesa City Council meets on Tuesday, January 17, 2017 in City Council Chambers at City Hall beginning at 6:00 p.m. per the revised rules.  This meeting will be preceded by a Closed Session that begins at 4:00 p.m. in Council Chambers to take Public Comments, then moves to Conference Room 5A for the closed session.  Three items are on that Closed Session agenda, including the lawsuit between Yellowstone Women's First Step House, Inc and Sober Living Network, Inc v. City of Costa Mesa.  The full agenda for the entire meeting may be found HERE.

COUNCIL MEMBERS GET ONLY 4 MINUTES - FIRST TIME UP
When the open meeting begins at 6:00 they will follow the new agenda format.  Following Public Comments there will be Council Member's Reports, Comments and Suggestions, but each council member will be limited to only 4 minutes at this point.  If any council member has more things to talk about there is time reserved for that at the end of the meeting, before the City Manager and City Attorney reports.

CONSENT CALENDAR
The Consent Calendar has another load of items on it - 13 to be precise.  In theory these items could be voted upon in one vote without separate discussion on them.  However, it's unusual for that to happen.  Any member of the council, city staff or public may pull an item for separate discussion and vote.  I won't cover all those items - you can read them when you click on that agenda link above.  However, there are some that require comment.

SPENDING OUR MONEY
Item #2, Warrant Resolution #2569, HERE, represents the expenditure of right at $4 million in city funds.  You can scroll down through the list to see if anything catches your eye.  Some items that caught mine are:

• City of Huntington Beach - $23,100.00 - Helicopter Svcs, Nov. 2016
• Clean Street - $60,590.98 - Street Sweeping Svcs Nov. 2016 Plus Power Wash Harbor/19th
• G4S Secure Solutions, Inc - $50,823.18 - Jail Svcs Nov. 2016
• Heroes Hall Veteran's Foundation - $25,000.00 - 2nd Grant for Vets Museum
• Johnson Favaro LLP - $285,859.00 - Library/NCC Architecure 11/16-12/15
• Jones & Mayer - $132,449.62 - Legal Svcs, various
• Keyser Marston Assoc. - $4,774.00 - Nghd Improv/Homeless Nov. 2016
• Lilley Planning Group - $9,720.00 - Planning Consultant Nov 2016
• MPS Consulting, Inc - $9,666.25 - Planning Consultant, 11/1-11/22
• Management Partners Inc - $8,631.00 - Consulting Svcs DS 11/16-11/30
• Permit Management Solutions - $2,665.00 - Interim Permit Tech 11/21-11/23, 11/28-12/2
• Scott Fazekas & Assoc. - $6,022.84 - Bldg Plan Check Svcs
• Stradling Yocca Carlson & Rauth - $10,787.50 - Legal Svcs, various
• The Code Group Inc. - $1,440.00 - Bldg Inspect. Svs 10/30-11/26
• Interwest Consulting Group, Inc. - $22,960.00 - Bldg Ofcrs/Bldg Inspect Oct 2016
• Kimley Horn & Assoc. - $40,548.00 - Group Home Consulting
• Rutan & Tucker LLP - $83,285.35 - Legal various (No Growth & Fairview Park)
• CSG Consultants Inc - $11,055.47 - Plan Check Svcs Nov 2016
• Kitchell Cern - $3,990.00 - Const. Mgt.Svs 10/31-11/27
• Liebert Cassidy Whitmore - $5,973.10 - Legal various
• Vincent Benjamin - $5,960.07 - Temp Staff, Treas. & Purch.

As you can see, we spent more than $230,000 on legal fees and more than $60,000 on various consultants.

CLEANING UP THE TOW POLICY
Item #3, HERE, is the modification of the Police Department Tow Policy.

SLOWING TRAFFIC ON EAST 19TH STREET
Item #6, HERE, is a $1.6 million Safe Route To School Project on East 19th Street from Church Street to Irvine Avenue and will involve so-called "traffic calming" measures the over that length.
These "enhancements" will slow the traffic on a busy residential street and almost certainly force traffic on adjacent streets - Costa Mesa Street, 20th Street and others - as traffic, like water, will find a way.  It will also include a new monument sign on a new median near the intersection of Fullerton and 19th Street.

BRISTOL STREET PROJECTS
Item #7, HERE, is a bundle of Bristol Street Projects totalling nearly $5 million.

HOUSING AUTHORITY FINANCIAL AUDIT
For you numbers people, Item #8, HERE, is the Fiscal Year 2015-2016 Independent Financial Audit of the Costa Mesa Housing Authority.

BLOWING IN THE WIND
The first Public Hearing, HERE, is the 2016 California Residential Code Wind Speed Revision.  Yeah - I asked the same question - What the heck is that?  The staff report is short and this item may take a whole 5 minutes, max.

440 FAIR DRIVE - AND THE SMART GROWTH INITIATIVE
Public Hearing #2, HERE, is the elephant on the agenda, for many reasons.  This is the proposed project at 440 Fair Drive - the one the short-handed Planning Commission rejected.  According to the staff report, this one, if approved, will likely require a vote of the public before proceeding due to the requirements of Measure Y - the Smart Growth Initiative passed by the voters on November 8th.  The discussion of this item should be very interesting.

NAME CHANGES, PART 2
Old Business #1, HERE, is the second hearing of the change of the CEO and Assistant CEO positions to City Manager and Assistant City Manager.  This one will take about 2 minutes unless Jim Righeimer decides to launch off on a rant again.

WEST 19TH STREET BIKE TRAIL PROJECT
Old Business #2, HERE, is an amendment to the Professional Services Agreement with Dudek for Environmental Services for the West 19th Street Bicycle Trail Project.

MOBILE RECREATION PROGRAM REDUX
New Business #1, HERE, is the resurrection of the Mobile Recreation Program, abandoned a few years ago due to budget constraints.  If the council supports this idea the staff will develop a funding plan for the 2016/2017 mid-year budget report.  For some history, HERE'S the 2004 staff report for your recollection.

NEXT MEETING TO CONSIDER VOLUNTEERS
The council will adjourn to a special meeting on Tuesday, January 24, 2017 during which applicants wishing to be considered for positions on the Planning, Parks and Recreation and Senior Commissions will be interviewed.  The deadline for applying for these positions is 5:00 p.m., Wednesday, January 18, 2017.  Go HERE for more information.

Special Planning Commission Meeting Monday

FOUR ITEMS CONTINUED FROM NOVEMBER 14TH
The Costa Mesa Planning Commission will hold a Special Meeting on Monday, November 21, 2016 in City Council Chambers beginning at 6:00 p.m.  You can read the agenda for this meeting HERE.

BRUTAL MEETING SCHEDULE
This meeting was scheduled to hear those four items continued from the previous meeting on November 21st.  That meeting was dedicated to hearing the first of an avalanche of sober living issues that will be facing the Planning Commission over the next few weeks.  It's my understanding that there will be meetings on the 21st, the 28th, December 5th and the 12th - an unbelievable workload for the city staff to manage.

COULD BE A SHORT MEETING
This meeting should move fairly quickly.  The four items on the agenda seem to be fairly straightforward.

SMALL LOT SUBDIVISION AT 166 ROCHESTER STREET
Public Hearing #1, HERE, is a small lot subdivision for two units at 166 Rochester Street.  The staff recommends approval.

ACCESSORY STRUCTURE AT 321 ROCHESTER STREET
Public Hearing #2, HERE, is a variance request to build a two-story detached accessory structure within the rear yard setback at 321 Rochester Street.  This structure would be used for an exercise room/storage on the ground floor and an office on the second floor.  The staff report is full of conditions. The request is to change the rear yard setback from 20 feet with a two-story structure to 5 feet.  The staff recommends approval.

PARKING AT 3O33 BRISTOL STREET
Public Hearing #3, HERE, is a for a minor conditional use permit to deviate from shared parking requireents to all ow two reserved parking spaces in front of Suite A to accommodate patrons of the Watch Connection.  Staff is recommending denial of the request.

440 FAIR DRIVE - FINALLY
Finally, Public Hearing #4, HERE, is the controversial development planned for 440 Fair Drive.  This issue has many of the residents of the nearby College Park neighborhood up in arms.  I anticipate a crowd, despite this meeting falling during the run-up to the Thanksgiving Day holiday.  This one is unusual in may ways. For example, the staff report implies that no decision will be made at this meeting.  According to the report, the staff has learned of code enforcement violations that persist at the site despite their efforts to encourage the applicant to correct them.  As a result, at this time the staff is recommending the Commission:

1. Receive any additional public comments.
2. Close the public hearing.
3. Direct the applicant to meet again with the residents to address their concerns and/or revise the project.
4. Direct the applicant to continue to work with Code Enforcement staff to clear all violations on the property.

I suspect the neighbors will show up angry and vocal... we'll see.

NEXT MEETING ON 11/28/16 - MAYBE
The next Planning Commission meeting is tentatively scheduled for Monday, November 28th.  No agenda has been released for that meeting yet.

Oh, yes... We here at A Bubbling Cauldron wish all of you a very Happy Thanksgiving.