General Plan Changes And More On Tuesday's Council Agenda

COULD BE A LONG NIGHT
The Costa Mesa City Council meets again in council chambers at City Hall on Tuesday, September 20, 2016 beginning at 5:45 p.m.  The agenda for that meeting may be found HERE.  It will be preceded by a short Closed Session to discuss anticipated litigation - we here a lot these days - beginning at 5:00.

MAYOR'S AWARD
There will be a presentation of the Mayor's Award to Randy Barth, Founder and CEO of THINK Together Shalimar Learning Center, followed by Public Comments and Council Member Comments and CEO Comments.

CONSENT CALENDAR
The Consent Calendar has thirteen (13) items on it, and all will be voted upon in one vote unless someone - a council member, staff member or member of the public - pulls an item for separate discussion.  Under normal - if you can call it that - circumstances those items pulled will be trailed to the end of the meeting to discourage public discussion.  Sometimes that tactic works.

THE WARRANT
Item #2, HERE, is Warrant 2563, which represents the expenditure of more than $7 million in our revenue.  I'm not going to list the many issues that I find of concern, but will touch on a couple general categories.  For example:

• We spent just over $250,000 on legal fees again!
• We spent $27,020.00 to Huntington Beach for helicopter services.
• We spent $57,291.98 on contract street sweeping.
• We spent $117, 782.00 on contract landscape maintenance.
• We spent $322,105.66 to Travel Costa Mesa for BIA receipts for July.
• We spent $53,340.62 on our contract Jail services.
• We spent $144,452.66 for architectural planning and design for the new library.
• We spent $101,247.70 on tree maintenance.
• And, we spent tens of thousands of dollars on contractors and temporary services to back fill empty positions.  Take a look at the register of payments for more information.

SCHOOL RESOURCE OFFICERS
Item #6, HERE, is the renewal of the School Resource Officer program with the Newport Mesa Unified School District for this school year.  The cost for two officers is $426,282, of which half is covered by the school district.

PORTABLE OFFICE COMPLEX AND SITE CONSTRUCTION
Item #11, HERE, is a fascinating item.  This is a request by Interim Public Services Director James Ross to accept the withdrawal of the low bidder on the project to provide temporary facilities for the Fire Department while Fire Station #1 is being rebuilt.  The contractor requested to withdraw.  The request goes on to reject all bids and handle the item as a "force account", where the work is done by individual "artisans" and the city will act as its own contractor.  This requires a 4/5 vote of the council.  The option is to rebid the job, which will delay the project significantly.  I'm wondering, since we are spending nearly $1 million on contract engineers presently due to staff shortages, just who is going to be the project engineer on this activity?  This part of the project was budgeted for $500,000, but there's no indication of just how much this new scheme will cost, and if the cost of a contract project engineer is included.

VACATION OF RIGHT-OF-WAY ALONG W. 17TH STREET
Public Hearing #1, HERE, is for the vacation of excess  right-of-way adjacent to the Superior Point development along 17th Street at Superior Avenue.  This was continued while the City's Bikeway and Walkability Committee reviewed it - which it apparently did at the meeting of September 7, 2016.  They voted to receive and file the report.  Apparently there is no way to adequately include bikeway or walkability capabilities along that stretch of roadway now that the project is being built and another just down the street at the corner of 17th Street and Pomona Avenue is under construction.  Seems a shame.

ARTS AND LEARNING CONSERVATORY APPROVAL APPEAL
Public Hearing #2, HERE, is the appeal of the Planning Commissions approval of the Arts and Learning Conservatory and Shared Parking Requirements at 3184 Airway Avenue, Suite A.  This was approved by the Planning Commission on June 13th and the appeal was filed on June 17th.  The council was to have heard this item at the meeting of August 2nd, but it was continued so the City Attorney could properly review documents submitted by the appellant at that time.  The appellant says the proposed use is not compatible with the other uses within the complex.  This is a "de novo" hearing, which means the entire project may be heard in its entirety.  The council may consider all aspects of the proposed use and is not required to limit the discussion to the appellant's issues in the appeal.

 

RE-ZONING AND RE-DESIGNATING FAIRVIEW DEVELOPMENT CENTER
Public Hearing #3, HERE,  is first reading of an ordinance which, if adopted as recommended by the Planning Commission, will allow implementation of the new zoning district, Institutional & Recreational - Multi-Use, as well as rezone the Fairview Development Center, 2501 Harbor Boulevard, property to this new zoning type to correlate with the new general plan land-use designation, Multi-Use Center, which was adopted for this property in June 2016 as part of the 2015-2035 General Plan.

HARBOR AND NEWPORT BLVD. MIXED USE OVERLAYS
Public Hearing #4, HERE, is a first reading of an ordinance to include the Harbor Boulevard Mixed-Use Overlay District between Wilson Street and 19th Street, and add a new article to the Code pertaining to the Residential Incentive Overlay Districts on Harbor Blvd. and Newport Blvd. as adopted in the 2015-2035 General Plan.  It establishes standards for new development in these overlay districts.  More than a few folks around down think this codifies the latest attempt at developer enrichment in our city.

HOME RANCH DEVELOPMENT AGREEMENT AMENDMENT
Old Business #1, HERE, is the fourth amendment to the Segerstrom Home Ranch Development Agreement.  The council passed the first reading on August 6, 2016 on a 5-0 vote.

NEW SENIOR COMMISSIONER SELECTION
New Business #1, HERE, is the appointment of a new member of the Senior Commission, replacing the departed former Chair, Ernie Feeney.  There are seven (7) applicants for this vacancy.  It will be interesting to see what role cronyism plays in this selection.  The applicants are:

• Ron Amburgey
• Charlene M. Ashendorf
• Patricia Fause
• Darrell Neft
• Gary Parkin
• Gracie Ruano
• Judy Takaya

CHANGING A COUNCIL MEETING TO ATTEND AN EVENT
New Business #2, HERE, is an interesting issue.  This is request to cancel the regularly scheduled City Council meeing of October 18, 2016 and call for a Special Meeting either the day before or after.
Apparently the City Council has received an invitation from the Segerstrom Center for the Arts for the honoring of Julianne and George Argyros and the staff report says, "There has been interest to move the City Council meeting on October 18, 2016 to another date."  I was curious about just whom expressed "interest" in shifting the date of the important business of the city - presuming it was Mayor Steve Mensinger, who worked for George Argyros at Arnel for many years.  I was told that "several members of the council and senior staff" were interested in changing the meeting.  Uh, huh.. if you say so.  Don't get me wrong... the Argyros' have been pillars of the Arts community in our city for decades and most certainly deserve this recognition.  I just wonder if we would be doing this if Mensinger was not the mayor?

WEDNESDAY I'LL GIVE YOU MY TAKE ON IT
It will be an interesting meeting, again.  I'll report on the happenings on Wednesday.

Well-rested Council Makes Quick Work Of Agenda

FINALLY BACK!
The Costa Mesa City Council, which has been on walkabout for nearly a month, dispatched the agenda at its meeting Tuesday night in near-record time.  Even though they had special presentations and a gaggle of public commentors, the council finished its work at precisely 8:00 p.m., barely two hours of work.

WAIT A MINUTE, HERE...
When they emerged from their Closed Session City Attorney Tom Duarte announced that Item #3 had been settled.  That was a lawsuit between Police Officer Jeffrey Horn and The City.  Duarte said that, on a 5-0 vote, the council agreed to pay Horn $200,000.  Well, on the Warrant on the agenda this evening there is the following entry: (click the image to enlarge it)

My question is, since the Warrant is supposed to represent checks already cut over the past several weeks, and when you add the legal fees and the amount paid to Horn on this entry it totals exactly $200,000, is THIS the entry of the settlement?  If so, how did checks get cut before the council voted on the settlement?  If not, is this an additional amount?  This is very strange.

LITTLE LEAGUE AWARDS
Mayor Steve Mensinger was in his element when he presented awards to both Costa Mesa Little League Teams.  He's right - he should have been a coach, not a politician.

PUBLIC COMMENTS
During Public Comments Several people stepped up to address issues important to them.
Beth Refakes reminded us for the final time of the Gown collection drive for the women of the 1/5 Marines.  She praised  Jim Righeimer and Katrina Foley for their community meetings last week.  She was also concerned about the delay in the renovation of Council Chambers and the status of the rebuilding of Fire Station #1.

Greg Thunell raked the council over the coals for making bad decisions - I'm giving you the abbreviated version of his comments.

Linda Dean pleaded for relief for parking issues on Coolidge.

Alex Reich, a candidate for a seat on the Mesa Water District Board, briefly addressed the problems with Desal.

Tamar Goldmann expressed concern for the loss of meeting space for many users when the Neighborhood Community Center is demolished and hoped it could be delayed.  She cited specifically the Freedom Committee as one user that might have trouble finding space.  She referred to a problem with the funding of the new NCC/Library complex.

Kim Hendricks, peeved that she arrived one minute too late for her PowerPoint presentation to be used, suggested we all vote YES on Measure AA.

Mary Spadoni praised resident and attorney Eleanor Egan for her victory over some very high-priced attorneys in her successful quest to get bogus rebuttal language removed from the ballot last week.

Cynthia McDonald also mentioned Egan's accomplishment and suggested we visit www.savecostamesa.com for more information.

DEVELOPER'S DREAM TEAM (DDT)
An unidentified woman compared Mensinger to a Reverse Robin Hood - taking from the residents and giving to the developers.  She referred to his slate as being referred to as "Team Costa Mesa", but suggested they should be referred to as the Developer's Dream Team (DDT), and made the comparison of the developer's activities in the city to that toxic substance.

MONAHAN MUTE
During Council Member Comments, Gary Monahan - as usual - had nothing to say.

RIGHEIMER
Mayor Pro Tem Jim Righeimer, fresh off his misinformation-spreading gambit in Newport Beach last Thursday morning, had remarkably little to say.  Addressing the Coolidge parking issues, he suggested Permit Parking.  He asked for clarification on the NCC/Library issue.  Assistant CEO Tammy Letourneau said there is plenty of available space for the users of the NCC and that her staff is working with them to locate the right space for them.  She also said there is NO PROBLEM with the funding - that everything is on schedule.

Mensinger said he could help the Freedom Committee - I don't know if he meant he would house the meetings in his new palatial golf course estate, or what.  He was unclear.

FOLEY
Katrina Foley spoke about her meeting last week in which she and Sandy Genis spoke to members of the public in a range of issues, including Permit Parking.  She said her next meeting will include discussions of the Skate Park, Sober Living Homes and the NCC/Library issue.  She also told us about an apparent sober living resident who has been wandering in her Mesa Del Mar neighborhood and actually knocked on her door at midnight last week.  She was arrested for break ins in the neighborhood.  She also expressed concern for the misinformation that is being spread from the dais.

GENIS
Genis also spoke of the Coolidge Street parking issue. She also mentioned a group that has been formed, apparently by a Wilshire Blvd. law firm in Los Angeles called Costa Mesans Against The Power Grab, and thought it was curious that a remote law firm was involved.  She expressed the opinion that if this group is concerned about residents actually wanting to take back control of their government, "maybe it's about time".  To me, this smells like the stench of developer dollars trying to influence our election.

HATCH
During his segment CEO Tom Hatch said progress is being made on the mosquito issue in Fairview Park.  He said Fire Station #1 rebuild is on schedule.  An architect has been hired and a consultant is being selected to help with the planning of continuing service while the building is re-built.  He said construction would begin in February or March.  He didn't have an answer on the long-stalled Chambers renovation.  He also expressed concern for the condition of our urban forest, indicating that we're losing many trees due to the drought and our conservation efforts.

CONSENT CALENDAR
Two items were pulled from the Consent Calendar, #5 and #7, for later discussion.

NEW BUSINESS #1 - VOTING DELEGATES
Because it was still well before the witching hour of 7:00 p.m. when Public Hearings are to begin the council jumped forward on the agenda to New Business #1 - the last item on the agenda.  This is the selection of voting delegates at a convention in Long Beach in October.  Mensinger will remain the primary voting delegate, with Righeimer and Genis as voting alternates, decided on a 5-0 vote.

EXPENSIVE ARTICIFICIAL TURF OK'D FOR JACK HAMMETT
With time still to spare they tackled the Consent Calendar items.  Foley stepped out of the room for #5, the artificial turf for the Jack Hammett Sports Complex because she lives within 500 feet of it.  The remaining four made quick work of it because the person who pulled if for discussion had left.  It passed on a 4-0 vote.

FUAP GENERATES DISCUSSION
Item #7, amendments to the Field Use and Allocation Policy (FUAP), got much more attention.  Genis pulled this item for clarification about certain users and their status.  Recreation Manager Justin Martin - who Mensinger referred to as "Travis" during the discussion, confusing him with his predecessor, Travis Karlen, who has moved on to Irvine.  The discussion revolved around giving "our" kids - Costa Mesa kids - priority on field use, and included some comments about enlisting Newport Beach to share some of their fields and to get clarification from the Newport-Mesa Unified School District on a recent change in THEIR field use policy that seemed to conflict with our Joint Use Agreement with them.  Martin will handle that.  Eventually they passed the issue, 5-0.

NORTH COSTA MESA SPECIFIC PLAN
Public Hearing #1, the amendments to the North Costa Mesa Specific Plan, was presented by Minoo Ashabi.  This issue just brings those areas into conformity with the recently-approved new 2015-2035 General Plan.

HOME RANCH DEVELOPMENT AGREEMENT
Public Hearing #2 was the 4th amendment of the Segerstrom Home Ranch Development Agreement.  Justin McCusker, representing the Segerstroms, helped with some history on this issue.  There were a couple timeline-related questions that he and staff will research, but the issue was passed on a 5-0 vote at precisely 8:00, after which Mensinger adjourned the meeting.

LOTS OF YOUR MONEY SPENT WITHOUT DISCUSSION
If you refer to my previous entry - the preamble to this meeting, HERE - you will realize that the council just blitzed through the Consent Calendar and all those interesting, expensive issues.  And, I'm told, that entry on the Warrant in which we theoretically cut a check for more than $26,000 to the City of Newport Beach was a typo - it should have actually been Huntington Beach.  It's not clear to me whether the typo was on the report or the check.  If it was on the check, our neighbors in Newport Beach will be having one big party!

Small Agenda Faces City Council Tuesday

CAREFUL... DON'T OVERWORK THEM!
The Costa Mesa City Staff, apparently not eager to overwork the City Council after their nearly month-long hiatus, has prepared a very small agenda for their meeting Tuesday, September 6, 2016.  The agenda for that meeting, which begins at 5:45 p.m. in City Council Chambers, may be viewed HERE.

"SECURITY THREAT"?
As is usually the case, the regular meeting will be preceded by a Closed Session commencing at 5:00 p.m.  This one has three items on the agenda, the most interesting of which is the third item, which says: Threat To Public Services of Facilities.  Security Briefing by Rob Sharpnack, Chief of Police.  I don't ever recall this item having been on previous agendas, so perhaps when the regular session convenes someone will "report out" that information - or at least the reason for it.

THE LINE UP
Following the Costa Mesa Minute, the Mayor's Award, Public Comments, Council Members' Reports, Comments and Suggestions and CEO Tom Hatch's Report, if any, comes the Consent Calendar.

CONSENT CALENDAR
As has been the case over the past couple years, the Consent Calendar this time - items which are supposed to be "routine in nature" and would be considered with one vote - is packed with interesting stuff that you'll probably not hear about unless someone pulls them for separate discussion.  If that happens those items will be trailed to the end of the meeting to meet the Mayor's intent to stifle discussion of issues.  I won't comment on every item on the Consent Calendar, but I will give you my thoughts on a few of them.

MORE THAN 8.6 MILLION BUCKS!
Item #2, Warrant 2562, HERE, represents the expenditure of over $8.6 million of your tax dollars.  Because this warrant is so huge, with so many entries, I'm not going to attempt to list items, but  I will summarize some issues.  You can go to that link and just scroll down through the payments and seek out pearls for yourself if you wish.

Legal Fees!
Legal fees continue to spin the meter.  This time around we paid nearly $420,000, most of which went to our contract City Attorney, Jones & Mayer - something just under $200,000.

Trying To Fill Empty Slots
Consulting services and contract employees also continue to be a large part of our monthly expenditures.  We're spending at least tens of thousands of dollars each month on consultants and contract employees filling holes in the organization due to unfilled vacancies.  More on that later.

Jail and Streets
We spent outsourcing companies more than $110,000.00 to have our Jail staffed and our streets swept.

Two Hundred Grand in BIA Receipts
We wrote a check to Travel Costa Mesa for $213,369.36 which represented the VIA Receipts for June, 2016.

More New Library/NCC Fees
We also paid Johnson Favaro LLP $170,748.00 for their consultative support on the new Library/Community Center project.

Saving Money On Undercover Cop Cars
On the other hand, we spent only about half as much as usual to Enterprise Rental Cars for Undercover Police cars.  I guess we don't have enough cops to go undercover these days, so we're saving a few bucks on that line item.

Helicopter Services from NEWPORT BEACH?
I did notice a funny entry.  Apparently we cut a check to the City of Newport Beach for helicopter services  for June, 2016, in the amount of $26,385.50.  That's interesting, since I didn't know Newport Beach had any helicopters and also thought we had a contract with Huntington Beach for helicopter services.  Wonder what's up with that?

Sloppiness?
Which brings me to one final observation on the Warrant.  In recent months, unlike in previous years, we've seen several entries correcting previous errors.  This entry for helicopter service may be a similar situation.  This is NOT a place where sloppiness can be tolerated, so it makes me wonder just who's paying attention in the process.

TURF AT JACK HAMMETT
Item #5, HERE, is the resolution for the application of $1 million in grant funds to help replace grass with artificial turf on a couple fields at the Jack Hammett Sports Complex.  It will still cost the City an additional $3.5 million.

CHANGES TO THE FUAP
Item #7, HERE, contains amendments to the Field Use and Allocation Policy (FUAP) as recommended by the Parks and Recreation Commission at its July meeting.  It includes a Field Use Code Of Conduct.

FILLING CLAIRE'S VACANCY - TEMPORARILY?
Item #8, HERE,  is an amendment to the professional services agreement with Management Partners to retain Jay Trevino to temporarily (I think) replace departed Assistant Development Services Director Claire Flynn, who left to join the private sector.  This amendment presently has a $200,000 cap on it - but we've all seen how those caps manage to disappear.

BUILDING OFFICIAL CONSULTING
Item #9, HERE, is a similar situation with Interwest Consulting Group for Building Official services, apparently to fill the hole left by the recent departure of Khanh Nguyen, our Building Official, and other vacancies in that department.  This one is for $150,000.  You may recall that recently we also saw an approval to spend $900,000 for engineering consulting support.  Hmmm, wonder why we can't retain people?  Could it be the crappy contract the Miscellaneous employees were forced to swallow?  Smart money says it is.

CONFLICT OF INTEREST CODE
Item #10, HERE,  is the Biennial Review of City's Conflict Of Interest Code.  This one changes - adds and deletes - positions and groups that are subject to the Conflict of Interest Code.  Appendix A, HERE, shows those positions/groups.  I guess I understand it all with this exception.  At the end, under Commissions, it shows only the Parks and Recreation Commission.  What about the Planning Commission and Senior Commission?  And no mention of the City Council, either.  Maybe I'm missing something, but...?

FINAL OLD GENERAL PLAN REVIEW
Item #12, HERE, is the Annual Review of the Current Housing Element and Final Review of the Previous General Plan.  Interesting that they will likely just sign this without comment.

AMENDING NORTH COSTA MESA SPECIFIC PLAN
Public Hearing #1, HERE, is the city-initiated amendment to the North Costa Mesa Specific Plan related to the Segerstrom Home Ranch Site, 3350 Avenue of the Arts and Sakioka Lot 2 bringing them into conformance with the recently-approved General Plan.  The Planning Commission recently reviewed these items and moved them forward.

HOME RANCH DEVELOPMENT PLAN AMENDMENT
Public Hearing #2, HERE, is the Fourth Amendment to the development agreement for the Home Ranch.  Similarly, this brings this project into conformity with the new General Plan.

LEAGUE OF CALIFORNIA CITIES VOTING DELEGATES
The final item on the agenda is New Business #1, HERE.  this is a fairly routine item, designating a Voting Delegate and Voting Delegate Alternate(s) for the 2016 League of California Cities Annual Conference in Long Beach, October 5-7, 2016.  Presently Mayor Steve Mensinger, Mayor Pro Tem Jim Righeimer and Council Member Sandy Genis are registered to attend, so this should be a no-brainer, huh?  Not so fast!  It seems that the Eastside Costa Mesa Neighbors Group Candidate Forum is scheduled for October 6th.  And, if that's not enough fun, I understand there may also be some kind of a fundraiser at Monahan's gin mill on the same evening.  This item should be worth waiting for at the tail end of the meeting.

MORE LATER...
We'll be watching and will report on the festivities following the meeting.  This one should not take long, but one just never knows these days.

Short-handed Planning Commission Approves Code Changes

 QUICK NIGHTS WORK
Monday night the short-handed Costa Mesa Planning Commission - Tim Sesler and Stephan Andranian were absent - made quick work of two items on the agenda.

SORRY ABOUT THAT...
I apologize in advance for the crappy quality of the images.  Because I attended another event - see next post - that was held a few yards away from this one, I had to photograph the images from my recording of this event.

MCCARTHY CARRIES THE LOAD
Chairman Rob Dickson, back from his vacation, guided the discussion, although Commissioner Colin McCarthy did nearly all the heavy lifting on these items.

Beth Refakes reminded us, once again, of the drive currently being held by the Military Affairs Team for Ball Gowns and accessories for the women of the 1/5 Marines for the Marine Ball coming up in October.

An unidentified speaker told the commission of problems with a new night club on 19th Street - The Holiday - and advised them of recent noise complaints and that they are operating outside the permitted uses.

HARBOR BLVD. & NEWPORT BLVD. OVERLAY ZONES
Public Hearing #1, was bringing the various sections of the Municipal Code for two overlay zones approved in the General Plan for 2015-2035 into line with that General Plan.  After a short staff report the following speakers addressed this issue.

Jay Humphrey was concerned about the codifying unreasonable density in these areas.

Linda Teng, representing the Kennedy Commission, asked that at least 20% of these developments be designated for Affordable Housing.

Rick Huffman was concerned about taking of viable businesses for high density housing.  He said although this had been portrayed as a way to get rid of "Whores, Pimps and Drug Addicts", it was really a thinly veiled land grab that will displace existing businesses.

Cynthia McDonald was grateful that we had no "live/work" units in these plans.  She was concerned about the 4-5 story units that will pop up.  She said the only way to stop this kind of development is to vote YES on Measure Y - the Smart Growth Initiative.

Chris McEvoy asked the commission to stop approving high density housing.

After a very short discussion the commission voted, 3-0, to move this forward to the City Council.

FAIRVIEW DEVELOPMENTAL CENTER
Public Hearing #2 was a similar item, which brought the zoning requirements for the 100 acres of the Fairview Developmental Center into line with that new General Plan.

Dan Inloes conducted this staff presention and used this chart to show how the General Plan - and the codes that will be changed - would slice up the existing property.  It's pretty self explanatory.

Many of the same individuals who addressed the first item spoke on this one, too.  Jay Humphrey was concerned that the plans might include demolition of a perfectly good facility that might be used for some of the proposed plans.

Linda Teng again was concerned about affordable housing.

Cynthia McDonald was concerned for Affordable Housing for women veterans.

Jonathon Fletcher emphasized the need for Affordable Housing, particularly for Vets and Senior Citizens.  He was concerned about squandering a valuable resource.

THE STATE'S IN CONTROL
McCarthy again took the lead on this issue and reminded us that the State has control of this process, but these changes can provide a roadmap for any future developers.  The issue passed on a 3-0 vote and the meeting adjourned until September 12th after only 65 minutes.