Monday Planning Commission Meeting Agenda

MIGHT BE ANOTHER LONG NIGHT
The Costa Mesa Planning Commission will meet again on Monday, February 23, 2015 in the City Council Chambers beginning at 6:00 p.m.  You can read the agenda HERE.  Even though one controversial item has been shoved out to next month, this one still could go long.

ELECTING NEW LEADERS
The first order of business will be to elect a new Chairman and Vice Chairman.  This process was pushed out from the last meeting because current Vice Chairman Rob Dickson was absent due to the birth of his daughter that day.  It will be interesting to see which of their peers the commission selects to lead them for the next two years.  As I said earlier, I won't be surprised if Dickson is chosen as Chairman.

13-UNIT DEVELOPMENT TO BE CONTINUED
Public Hearing #1, HERE, is the 13-unit residential development at 2880 Mesa Verde Drive East, the site of the current First Church of Christ Scientist.  According to the staff report, this item has been requested to be continued to the meeting of March 9th to permit community outreach.  It is my understanding that two such meetings have already been held.  This project, when it is eventually discussed, will likely get some serious massaging by the commission and the public because the developer is requesting some significant variances to open space requirements.

A BIGGER, BETTER GANAHL LUMBER
Public Hearing #2, is the creation of a new Ganahl Lumber Hardware Store and Outdoor Storage Yard at 1100 Bristol Street, adjacent to its current operations, which would be closed following the completion of this project.  This is the first step in this project by the applicant, Ganahl Lumber Company - a business which has been in operation for over 100 years.  You can read the entire more than 1,600 page staff report HERE.  Give it some time to download!  The staff is recommending approval of the project, subject to the conditions of approval and mitigation measures.  For fun, go to page 764 and review the series of aerial photographs of the site dating back to 1927.

AN UNUSUAL EASTSIDE EXPANSION

Public Hearing #3, HERE, is the expansion of a residence at 456 Abbie Way on the Eastside of town.  This one is asking for significant variances in the rear yard setback requirements.  This property abuts Harper School property.

SMOKING, VAPING AND HOOKAH ORDINANCE
New Business #1, HERE, is a discussion of a proposed amendment tot he city's Municipal Code regarding vaping, smoking and hookah establishments.   The following image is extracted from the staff report and illustrates the issues under consideration.

The Rest Of The Story...

MORE PLANNING COMMISSION REPORTS
In addition to the Group Home Ordinance, discussed at length in my previous post, the Costa Mesa Planning Commission discussed several other items at the meeting Monday night.  The video of the meeting can be viewed HERE.  Use the "jump to" feature - just click on the subject listed below the image window and you'll "jump" right to the beginning.

REVOKING RECYCLE CUP
Public Hearing #2, HERE, is the revocation of the the Conditional Use Permit (CUP) for the recycle center operated by RePlanet, LLC at the Stater Bros. market parking lot at 2180 Newport Boulevard.  This hearing required some of the participants to be sworn-in and the proceeding was conducted by attorney Greg Palmer, a litigator for The City.

TESTIMONY FROM NEIGHBORS
Senior Planner Mel Lee and neighbors adjacent to the site, Deanne Hemmens, Christy Turley and Tyler Turley were all sworn-in.  The item took around 90 minutes to hear, during which Palmer outlined the many violations of the CUP and the neighbors each took their turns being interviewed for the record.  Stories of transients leaving all manner of human waste near the yards, loud noise, violation of hours of operation and many other items were discussed.

HEAVY-HANDED
The commission, mainly Chairman Jim Fitzpatrick and Colin McCarthy, were especially heavy-handed with the operators and with the management of the adjacent Stater Bros. Store.  Fitzpatrick, in particular, went overboard with his criticism of the folks presenting before him, including representative from RePlanet and Stater Bros.  The result was the CUP was revoked on a 4-0 vote.

E-CIGARETTE BRIEFING
Then, for some inexplicable reason, Fitzpatrick moved the brief discussion of E-cigarettes up on the agenda ahead of Public Hearing #3.  Stacey Reynolds from the State Department of Education gave a very brief presentation on the issue and described the astronomical growth of the e-cigarette business in the past year.  At the end, despite the observation by Assistant Development Services Director Claire Flynn that such an action might require city council authorization to spend the staff time, Fitzpatrick said he and McCarthy would brainstorm with staffer Mel Lee to discuss a possible ordinance.  The item was just received and filed.

FITZY BLASTS SANITARY DISTRICT, AGAIN
Just before 10:30 Public Hearing #3,  HERE, the 18-unit development on Hamilton Street was launched.  The short version is - this is an excellent project, fully parked with more open space than is required.  The property could support 24 units - the builder is proposing 18.  This looked like it was a slam-dunk - the only modification was on the setbacks, and those variations were small.  However, Fitzpatrick chose this time to launch into one of his tirades about the Costa Mesa Sanitary District - that organization that tossed him out because he held his seat on the board illegally.  He suggested that he would propose to future developers, including this one, that they consider alternative trash haulers instead of having CR&R - the contract hauler - pick up the trash.  He is a small, vindictive little man.  The item moved forward on a 4-0 vote.

CHURCH DIDN'T BOW TO FITZY
Public Hearing #4, HERE, looked like an easy one.  Ha!  One just never knows.  Just before 11:00 p.m. the discussion of the move of a satellite church - part of the Saddleback Church organization - from Huntington Beach to facilities at 1901 Newport Boulevard.  This is adjacent to the busiest intersection in the City - the terminus of the 55 Freeway into Newport Boulevard at 19th Street near Harbor Boulevard.  The architect for the project and the pastor for the church spoke to the issue.  The commissioners had problems with a few factors - parking, traffic management, "ministries"  and event scheduling.  Plus, Fitzpatrick kept mentioning a problem he had with a "church over by the airport", as though it was somehow relevant to this issue - it wasn't.  One peculiar statement he made was that "nobody had reached out to me" on this subject.  I guess he feels slighted if an applicant processes his paperwork through the staff and appears to meet all the requirements but doesn't call him to have his ring kissed before the item is heard.  The message was loud and clear - HE is the Chairman and HE expects some deference from applicants - or else!  The upshot of all this, at just before 11:30, Fitzpatrick recommended that the item be "continued", for re-consideration at their meeting near the end of October.  It was strange, indeed.

A Few Surprises At Planning Commission Meeting

LATE NIGHT WITH CURVEBALLS
When the Costa Mesa Planning Commission met last night we knew it was going to be a long meeting.  We didn't, however, anticipate some of the curveballs thrown during the proceedings.

BERATING RESIDENTS
For example, the Public Comments segment began with Eastside resident Scott Morlan stepping to the podium to criticize Chairman Jim Fitzpatrick for a YouTube link he posted in a thread on NextDoor - the neighborhood conversation site that both he and I participate on.  I had not seen that particular comment - there are so many of them! - but went back after the meeting and did find it HERE.  As you can see, this is the old video put together by Righeimer sycophant Kent Mora using his "professional name" - Art Vandelay - in which he ridicules members of Costa Mesans For Responsible Government (CM4RG).  Fitzpatrick attempts to use the NextDoor platform to spew his party line and pretend he actually knows something.  It's all so very sad...  He did not respond to Morlan's criticism.

NO SWEAT CONSENT CALENDAR
The Consent Calendar passed, 5-0, without any separate comments.

GARAGE REJECTED - REHAB HOME FEARS
The first Public Hearing, dealing with a proposed 845 square foot garage plus game room above on Placentia Avenue was denied by the Planning Commission after much debate and many speakers - most of whom raised the specter that the extra room might be separately rented and/or the whole home would be turned into a rehab home.  During the discussion of the project all the commissioners tiptoed around that issue, instead because it was not "harmonious and compatible" with the surrounding neighborhood.  Their decision was a surprise.

TOWING CONTINUED
The second Public Hearing - the towing service on Logan Avenue - was continued until the next Planning Commission meeting.

37 UNIT CONDOS MOVE FORWARD
The third Public Hearing - the planned 37-unit condominium development on Victoria Street - was presented by former Development Services Director and Deputy City Manager Don Lamm, who makes a living these days representing development clients.  His poised, professional presentation dazzled several members of the audience.  Near the end of the discussions Vice Chairman Rob Dickson said, "This is exactly what the Urban Plans calls for!"  However, Fitzpatrick pulled an "Allan Mansoor" when he said he'd like to have some more dialogue on this project, so voted against it.  He didn't say what kind of dialogue and didn't perpetuate the discussion.  It was very strange.  Mansoor used to do that all the time.  The project passed, 4-1.

DISPLACED FAMILIES ATTENDED

A sidebar to this particular item.  More than a dozen Latino residents sat patiently in the audience as the discussion took place.  At one point a very polite young man and his mother stepped to the speaker's podium to ask, basically, what will happen to us - pointing to the members of the audience.  This project will involve tearing down 27 run-down rental dwelling units and replacing them with 37 new ownership units.  Clearly, all those folks in the audience will be out of a home when that happens.  When pressed for some kind of a timeline on the project, Lamm indicated that he didn't think construction would begin until early next spring - providing plenty of time for those folks to relocate elsewhere. 

Of course, Costa Mesa has very, very little affordable housing, so that nice, articulate Estancia High School student and his family and friends will have a tough time finding new housing in our city.  Come to think of it, my "Mansoor" reference seems appropriate now, since some thought from the very beginning that the Urban Plans were simply disguised methods of expelling the Latinos from our city. The economic downturn of the past decade delayed it.

KICKING THE CAN...
Next up was the "Smoking Lounge" ordinance, which really seemed directed at hookah and e-vape lounges and not the only cigar store in town.  The commission went around and around on this one, trying very hard to differentiate between hookah, e-vape and the cigar store.  Eventually it was decided to toss it back to the staff for more work on the ordinance.  It will be brought back at a future date.

INDEPENDENT RESEARCH ON THE DAIS
By the way, we had another example of folks on the dais using electronic tools - phones, in this case, to do independent research during a meeting.  Dickson told us that, during the discussion, he "Yelped" the subject of e-vapes in Costa Mesa and came up with over 20 - the staff report said there were only a few.  In my view, this is a very slippery slope.  Commissioners and Council Members should NOT be doing independent research and basing decisions on it unless and until the professional staff has had a chance to vet the information - and for that information to be made available to the other members.

ANNEXING AN ISLAND OF THE COUNTY
That brought us to Public Hearing #5, the discussion of the annexation of the so-called Colleen-Santa Ana Annexation Area.  A few members of the affected area - an island of Orange County that is surrounded by Costa Mesa and Newport Beach - expressed concerns about being able to retain the lifestyle that they presently enjoy - large lots, deep setbacks - as part of Orange County.  It would be zoned R-1, which has a minimum lot size of 6,000 square feet.  Presently the homes on the 14 acre parcel are also zoned county R-1, but the minimum lot size is 7,200 square feet with 25 foot setbacks on the rear property line - more than double the city code requirement.  Eventually, led by the verbiage of Colin McCarthy, the commission approved the staff requests and the process moves forward.  Here are a couple slides that show some of the data on this project.

 TWO LISTS?
We finally got to New Business #1, the Planning Commission goals, but it was tough to follow along.  It seems that the staff report that both of us remaining in the audience at 9:45 had didn't include a second list of proposed goals given to the staff earlier by Fitzpatrick.

GROUP HOMES FITZPATRICK'S #1 PRIORITY
He did tell us his number one priority was group homes, and complained that the city says we presently have 118 group homes but some neighbors think there are more than twice that many.  He wanted a reconciliation of the two numbers.

FITZPATRICK - BLEND CODE ENFORCEMENT UNITS
Fitzpatrick surprised me when he did something I've talked about for months when he called for the two code enforcement entities presently operating in City Hall - one out of the second floor and one operating as a private enforcement arm of the Executive Offices on the 5th - to be merged under one common command structure.

CODE ENFORCEMENT WRITING PARKING TICKETS?
By the way, did you know that the code enforcement officers are now going to be authorized to write parking tickets?  Yep, plans are underway to train them so they can simply write a ticket instead of having to call the police when they see cars illegally parked during one of their sweeps through the neighborhood.  I find myself wondering if we will next see them armed?

MORE GRIPES
Fitzpatrick criticized the processes in the city that - according to him - kept information from being shared effectively.  Dickson chimed in with the same complaint - he wants access to all the police department information so the Planning Commission can make "proper land use decisions".  Hmmm - really?

A LONG EVENING
The meeting finally ended at 10:25 p.m.  The next Planning Commission meeting will fall on TUESDAY, May 27th because Monday, the 26th is Memorial Day.