Council Revokes CUP for Sandpiper Motel, And More

SORRY ABOUT THAT...
OK, so I spoiled the ending... it wasn't really a surprise, though, was it?  More in a minute...

HARBOR SOARING SOCIETY ITEM CONTINUED
When Mayor Jim Righeimer announced that the renewal of the Harbor Soaring Society agreement was being continued until a future meeting I thought for a moment we might have an early evening last night.

WRONG!
Then, when he announced that the issue involving the Conditional Use Permit for the Sandpiper Motel would be moved to the end of the meeting my thoughts turned to "Well, he's going to clear the decks for a long item."... which turned out to be accurate.

PUBLIC COMMENTS
Ten people spoke during Public Comments, meaning that none were trailed to the end of the meeting early this morning.  Subjects ranged from need to create policy dealing with displaced residents as a result of new housing replacing old housing (Harold Weitzberg); the need for further study on the issue of a new library (Charles Mooney read Eleanor Egan's letter); the Military Affairs Team collection for the 1/5 Marines, the budget workshop, the need for space for the Veterans and possibly swapping the Senior Center building to be used as a library (Beth Refakes); the need for more animal control officers (Al Melone); Dan Joyce was a scapegoat (Chuck Perry); Crime, not enough cops (Robin Leffler); 2447 high density units have been considered by Righeimer since he joined the council and that he puts development before residents (Chris McEvoy) and the 60th Anniversary Celebration scandal (Teresa Drain).

MENSINGER
During Council Member Comments Mayor Pro Tem Steve Mensinger began by assuring folks that he was 100% behind a new library, then cautioned folks that it's an election year so people will be commenting who want no change.  His statement was, "As you listen to the drumbeat of the partisans who want to talk about problems in the city remember it's a pro forma for the election."    Basically, he was telling the audience to ignore speakers.  Typical!  This from a guy who can't bother to pay attention to the proceedings during the meetings.

GENIS
Sandy Genis mentioned the Chamber of Commerce awards to student scholars, the Library Foundation, Memorial Day services at Harbor Lawn Cemetery on Monday, John Wayne Airport issues are regional issues and thanked the Costa Mesa Fire Department for 1) extinguishing the recent fire at Talbert Park and, 2) thanks for supporting the San Diego firefighting efforts.

LEECE
Wendy Leece also addressed the library issue and suggested the possible use of large rooms at the Senior Center and the Costa Mesa Golf Club to supplement the Neighborhood Community Center; the Parks and Recreation Commission should address Dog Park issues; the need for a Veteran's venue.  She also provided a snapshot of our legal fees for the past couple years.  Jones & Mayer cost us $1.386 million in FY 12/13 and has cost us nearly $1.4 million so far this year.  Jones Day has cost us over $1.7 million working on the CMCEA case while Liebert Cassidy Whitmore has been a bargain at $290,000 last year.

RIGHEIMER
Righeimer told us his recent trek to Las Vegas - he returned earlier that afternoon - was very successful and that the staff will produce a report on it soon.  He told us "The Senior Center is going to be fine.", and that the current Board is just overwhelmed by the issues facing it.  He said "Professional Management", plus $500,000 in the budget for next year, will help.  He told us a new library would cost $35 - 50 million.  Responding to a letter by Air Fair in the Daily Pilot, and addressing the "regional needs" of the airport, he said, "We have to be sure we do what's best for our city."  He refuted the criticism by speakers observing that we don't have enough police, said the Chief (Gazsi) is doing a great job recruiting and that the police just got another 4% raise.

HATCH
During his segment CEO Tom Hatch mentioned that three public safety members were honored recently.  Scott Purcell was named firefighter of the year; Michael Cohen was named Police Officer of the year and Scott May was named Supervisor of the year.  In response to a question by the public he told us there was a place on the city web site to offer suggestions for the upcoming Charter discussion on June 3rd - the final public hearing on the issue.

125 EAST BAKER MOVES FORWARD
After Righeimer moved the Sandpiper issue to the end, the discussion began on the two items involving the 240 apartments that will be built near John Wayne Airport, at 125 East Baker Street.  Three people spoke against it.  Robin Leffler said a contiguous manufacturer has said they're moving out, recognizing the signs that will eventually push them out.  Leffler bemoaned the loss of yet another manufacturing business and referred to "helter skelter zoning".  Others cited the lost opportunity for affordable housing.  Both items passed on 4-1 votes.

QUITE THE COMMUNITY SALESMAN...
During the discussion Righeimer, in response to the observation that the building that will be replaced is not in bad shape and that's only vacant because the owner want to sell it, said it's "not a good office and around the corner there's a massage parlor that we know is just prostitution."  Really, Mr. Mayor?  So, what he's saying is that it's NOT OK for there to be an office building there, but he's just fine with 240 apartments being located "just around the corner" from prostitutes.  Interesting...

COSTA MESA MOTOR INN
The discussion then turned to the General Plan Screening request for 236 luxury apartments at the location of the current Costa Mesa Motor Inn - one of Righeimer's infamous "problem motels".  It seems the owner of the property has apparently "seen the light" - those are actually probably stars from being bludgeoned by code enforcement, law enforcement and fire inspections - so he wants to build apartments with golf course views.  Former Director of Development Services Don Lamm - now a shill, er, spokesman, for developers - spent the first couple of minutes of his presentation praising the council for its leadership and vision, blah, blah, blah.  It was embarassing.  I thought for a moment that he might jump up on the dais and give each one of them a big hug, for goodness sake.  After that pandering was over he went about telling us about the proposed project - which actually seems pretty nice, except that it's on Harbor Boulevard and will eliminate lots of affordable housing.

REALLY?
However, Lamm told us that they have NO long term renters.  Funny, that doesn't seem to fit with what we've been told by city staffers in the recent past.

SUCKING THE LIFE OUT OF THE VACCUUM CLEANER SHOP

Sandy Genis inquired about the vaccuum cleaner shop that occupies a small section of land that seems to hamper a proper project.  She was told that negotiations are ongoing with the owner to buy the property, but that he has cell towers on it that produce income for him.  Righeimer chimed in that somebody needs to talk with him because those towers will become very ineffective once the new building is built.  So, another long-time business will be squeezed out.

MAY BE AN OPPORTUNITY
Several speakers addressed this project.  Weitzberg observed that this may be an opportunity to provide more affordable housing - a thought that was echoed by several other speakers.  In fact, one suggested that it become 100% affordable.

TOO MANY PROBLEMS

Cynthia McDonald spoke with eloquence, bemoaning the loss of good businesses to development, citing the need to diversify so we don't have to count on South Coast Plaza Sales Tax revenue so heavily.  She observed that the density of this project - 59 units per acre - nearly triples the previous benchmark of 20 units per acre south of the 405 freeway.  She also observed that it perpetuates the imbalance between home owners and renters in the city, and that we would be getting NO park fees from this project.  She cited a need for a long-term strategy.

WHAT HAPPENED TO MERCY HOUSE?
Margaret Mooney wondered what happened to the Mercy House affordable housing plan.

A HAPPY GUY
Nick Melvin, who manages the Harbor Center across the street from the proposed project, expressed joy at the prospect of the new apartments.  He cited high crime - presumed from the Costa Mesa Motor Inn - in his center.

STOP! - AND LISTEN

Kathy Esfahani, representing the Costa Mesa Affordable Housing Coalition urged the council to STOP, and listen to the comments.  She urged them to look beyond the needs of the rich (developers) toward the needs of the community.

5-STORY PRECEDENT
Jay Humphrey observed that this project will reduce the inventory of affordable housing in the city and that it will set a precedent for 5-story developments throughout the city.

GENIS SUGGESTS A "COIN"-LIKE PROCESS

Gary Monahan, still in the auditorium, made a motion to accept the plan (Mensinger seconded) and when Leece began to express a view he tried to cut her off.  Genis suggested it could prejudice the General Plan before it's completed and also suggested that, just as the COIN process provides transparency in labor negotiations, there should be some mechanism to provide the same transparency in these kind of transactions.

CLASSY...
Mensinger said this was not a place anyone should have to live in - he used the word "despicable" and cited 150 square foot rooms and described those who own such places as slumlords.  I'm sure the owners felt good about that characterization.

CALLOUSNESS PERSONIFIED

Righeimer told us the current model for housing doesn't work and that we already have density.  He suggested meeting with Esfahani to talk about the issue.  Then, talking about the residents of the Costa Mesa Motor Inn, he said, "These people are not residents of Costa Mesa - they come in for a week to get a fix on drugs."  After more discussion the vote was taken and it passed, 4-1, with Genis voting NO. 

SANDPIPER MOTEL

Finally, after a short break and the departure of Monahan who left because he had a conflict - his bar is just across the road from this motel - the council reconvened at 8:50 p.m. to begin the discussion of the appeal of the Planning Commissions revocation of the Conditional Use Permit for the Sandpiper Motel, which would have changed it's authorization for long-term housing from 40% to 25%, the current code for all other motels.  When the commission revoked it I wrote about it HERE.  Last night went about the same and took about three and a half hours to do it.  I'm NOT going to try to cover every word spoken on this issue last night.  I will try to give you my sense of the proceedings.

STARTING FROM SCRATCH
First, Righeimer reached a point where he chided and scolded the owner of the motel as being a bad manager, not knowing how to run his business and on and on.  Since this was an appeal of the Planning Commission's decision to revoke the Conditional Use Permit, it became what is known as a de novo hearing - starting from scratch.  Since I sat through the whole thing before I knew we were in for a long night.  A court reporter was making a record - just as had been the case before - and a lawyer from Jones and Mayer presented our "case", assisted by one of our code enforcement officers who worked on the case.  After that the lawyer for the owner took over and presented their views.

A "DRIVEWAY" TO MORE DEVELOPMENT?

Some may recall that the contiguous Rolling Homes Mobile Home Park - a senior living cite covering nearly 3.5 acres - was prime for development last year when it was discovered during THAT General Plan Screening process that there was no access to the property, so it died.  If this project is successful it could pave the way - literally - to development of the mobile home park - a point more than one speaker mentioned.  In fact, Genis included that observation in her wrap up.

PASSIONATE SPEAKERS
Eleven speakers addressed this project.  Many, again, spoke about the loss of affordable housing.  Others speculated about just why this motel was being tagged with the "nuisance" tag when there were NO police reports as part of the public record.  Calls for service fell right in the middle of the array presented a few months ago during the Nuisance Ordinance proceedings.

CAMPAIGN OF REVERSE CONDEMNATION?

Finally Leece moved - Genis seconded - that the council reverse the revocation, citing the lack of findings to support the revocation.  During her  comments following her second of the motion Genis said our lawyer had said this was "a first step", and she wondered toward what?  She also observed that it appears to be a "campaign of inverse condemnation."  She suggested that the "first step" was to condemnation of the property and declaring it a "nuisance" in the CUP revocation resolution paved the way for future condemnation.

CHALLENGING HIS CORE BELIEFS

During the discussion Leece asked Righeimer how he squared his "small government" positions with what they were about to do here - micromanaging a private business.  She wanted to know how that worked.  Righeimer said, "Thank you for the political statement.", which made me laugh outloud!  If there ever was a political pontificator from the dais, Jim Righeimer is the guy!  He said, "This is exactly what government is supposed to do!"  Leece said, "So, it's OK for the government to tell this man how to run his business?", to which Righeimer replied, "Absolutely!"

CUP REVOKED - SANDPIPER A "NUISANCE"

OK, you've got the idea.  The vote was taken on Leece's motion to reverse the Planning Commission decison.  It failed, 2-2.  Then Righeimer moved to uphold the Planning Commission decision and the vote was also 2-2, which means no decision and the Planning Commission decision is upheld and the conditional use permit is revoked - and the Sandpiper Motel is now tagged as a "nuisance" - which could be the death knell downstream.

ALL LONG-TERM HOUSING SOON TO BE OUT

And, by the way, there's a move afoot at City Hall to eliminate ALL long-term housing in ALL Costa Mesa motels

FINALLY
That item finished at 12:30 and one speaker in Public Comments warned us of creeping radioactivity before the meeting finally adjourned at 12:35 a.m.  Ugh!

What Does The Agenda For Tuesday's Council Meeting Tell Us?

THE NEXT DICTATORIAL SHOW
The Costa Mesa City Council will meet again next Tuesday, May 20, 2014 in City Council Chambers at City Hall for the next installment in government by imperial decree.  The closed session will begin at 4:30 and the open session is scheduled to start at 6:00 p.m.  The closed session - held in Conference Room 5A -  involves conferences with negotiators for all three of the employee organizations - the Costa Mesa Police Officers Association (CMPOA), the Costa Mesa City Employee Association (CMCEA) and the Costa Mesa Firefighters Association (CMFA).  You can read the entire agenda HERE.

CONVERSATION
There are no presentations presently scheduled so, after Public Comments, Council Member Comments and the report from CEO Tom Hatch, the Consent Calendar will be considered.  Typically, items on the Consent Calendar are of a routine nature so may be handled in one single vote.  That hasn't happened in a long time, though.  If someone - a staff member, council member or member of the public - requests an item be pulled for separate discussion Mayor Jim Righeimer has decreed by royal edict that those items be trailed until the end of the meeting.  That means if you are concerned about an issue you'd better pack a lunch and bring a pillow.

CONSENT CALENDAR - WARRANT 2515
Items of interest on the Consent Calendar include #3, Warrant 2515, HERE, which shows us payments that have been made recently to vendors.  I'll give you just a little taste with a few that caught my eye.

• Apple One Employment Services - $5,930.24 for nine separate entries for temporary employees for Planning, Development Services and Recreation.
• Albert Grover & Associates, Inc. - $78,517.01 for "Baker/Placentia TSSP" for February and March
• Liebert Cassidy Whitmore - $14,543.00 for legal services for the 60th Anniversary Investigation and more.
• Stradling Yocca Carlson & Rauth - $18,270.00 for legal services
• Accountemps - $2,874.51 for Finance temporary help
• Government Staffing Services, Inc. - $2,200.00 for Project Management Temporary Services
• Jones Day - $2,280 for CMCEA legal services thru 2/28/14
• Liebert Cassidy Whitmore - $8,570.00 for PD labor negotiations and CMCEA Labor Negotiations
• Melad & Associates - $5,490.00 for Bldg Permit Technical Services
• Meyers Nave - $2,600.94 for Fairview Park legal services
• Scientia Consulting Group, Inc. - $3,823.75 for IT Service
• Woodruff Spradlin & Smart - $1,115.70 for legal services for Benito Acosta v City! Still?!

ACOSTA?  STILL?
You'll note that we spent nearly $50,000 on legal expenditures on this warrant, including another $1100 on Benito Acosta - former Mayor Allan Mansoor's gift that just keeps on taking, and taking - a decade later.

ELECTION DETAILS
Number 5, HERE, is a group of resolutions regarding the November elections.  The staff report is interesting reading.

FIXING FIRE STATION #4
Number 6, HERE, is for architectural and engineering services for modification of Fire Station #4 to accommodate larger apparatus.

SQUEEZING A "PROBLEM MOTEL" OWNER
Public Hearing #1, HERE, is the appeal of the Planning Commission's recent revocation of the Conditional Use Permit for the Sandpiper Motel on Newport Boulevard that allows extended occupancy of rooms at the facility.

APARTMENTS AND...
Old Business #1, HERE, and #2, HERE, involve the second reading for the 240-unit apartment complex at 125 East Baker Street.  Despite the fact that the city has roughly 60% rental residents and 40% owners, the City Council seems determined to pass this project in a commercial/industrial zone.  This will almost certainly drive adjacent industrial businesses away in the very near future.  So much for being "business friendly"!

...MORE APARTMENTS!
New Business #1, HERE, is VERY interesting.  This is a General Plan Screening request to develop a 236-unit residential development at the site of one of Mayor Jim Righeimer's "problem motels" - the Costa Mesa Motor Inn.  This is request to re-zone the property from General Commercial to High Density Residential, permitting 59 dwelling units per acre.  Some will recall that the mayor has stated quite boldly that it was his goal to cause owners of "problem motels" to take a more realistic view of the value of their properties.  Well, apparently his plan has sufficiently bludgeoned the owner of this particular property that he is now considering a change in use.  Former Development Services Director Don Lamm will apparently make the pitch for what is being called "Costa Mesa Luxury Apartments".  Here we  are again with more apartments - this will make nearly 600 discussed at this meeting Tuesday.

RENEWAL OF HARBOR SOARING SOCIETY AGREEMENT
The last item on the agenda, HERE, is the renewal of the user agreement with the Harbor Soaring Society (HSS) for 5 years.  If approved, this is a good decision by the council.  The members of the HSS have been good tenants and good stewards of their little slice of Fairview Park.

Wisdom Prevails - Flyers Extended 5 Years

A GOOD MOVE...
At the meeting of the Costa Mesa Parks and Recreation Commission Thursday night wisdom prevailed as the commission voted to extend the agreement between the City and the Harbor Soaring Society (HSS) 5 years, not the one-year originally proposed.

SANITY PREVAILS

Following a step-by-step description of the proposed changes in the language of the agreement, HERE, by Parks Project Manager Bart Mejia, and brief presentations by members of the HSS, a discussion was held on the controversial language apparently added to the agreement by the City Attorney that imposed the responsibility on the HSS to enforce rules on ALL flyers at the park, not just their members.  After a short discussion, which included the possibility of bringing the issue back again once the questionable segments were further vetted by the City Attorney, Chairman Byron de Arakal took charge and made a motion to extend the agreement for 5 years and without the controversial language mentioned above.  The motion passed unanimously.  It was nice to see sanity prevail.

FIELD USE
Next up was the new Athletic Field Use and Allocation Policy recommendations, HERE.  Recreation Supervisor Lisa McPherson led the discussion of the changes, which can be seen in an easy-to-understand redline version, Attachment 1, in the staff report.

CHANGES....
As you might have expected, this one took a lot more conversation and presentations and opinions by representatives of several user groups.  Many of the changes were purely cosmetic, updating the titles of departments and positions within the departments, but some were quite controversial and took some serious fleshing out.

WAIT, WHAT?
For example, on page two, under section II, DEFINITION OF TERMS AND FEES, in the section defining Resident Status, there appeared this new sentence:
Special residency status is assigned for Group 1's that have any students attending any school (private or public) within the boundaries of the Newport Mesa Unified School District.

TIGHTENED DEFINITION
After examining that statement, including with user group representatives like Mark Arblaster (shown) it became very clear that it was quite problematic and had the potential to permit a user group with only 1 participant attending ANY school within the NMUSD to qualify as a Group 1 user.  This certainly was not the intent, so - after several discussions with user group representatives - the language will be modified to narrow-down the definition to mean only youth baseball - Little League and Pony League.

LIGHTED FIELDS TO BE EXPANDED
The other VERY significant change that was made during the meeting was the modification of the fields to be potentially lighted.  This has been a HUGE sticking point for de Arakal ever since he took his seat and he and others in the community have been working hard to find fields that could be lighted for youth soccer practice.  AYSO 97 representative Brett Eckles was among those participating in this discussion.  The upshot of the meeting last night was that several schools were added to the roster of fields to potentially be lighted - Woodland Elementary, Lindbergh School, Kaiser School and Back Bay High School.  In addition, Harper School - which has been lighted recently - was removed from the roster.  It is de Arakal's plan to develop some kind of a rotation program for lighted fields - a kind of "share the pain" program, as described by Commissioner Dean Abernathy.

COMPENSATION
You can read the summary in the staff report for the remainder of the issues addressed, including the exclusion from Group 1 status those that compensate local executive staff and/or board members.  Friday Night Lights representative Scott Mahaffey had been the center of that controversy and addressed  it last night.

TREES
The proposal to remove four trees from property adjacent to a Swan Drive home was approved.  The tree request for Princeton Drive was denied.

THINGS ARE LOOKING UP
The Maintenance Services Manager's Report by Bruce Hartley was interesting to the three of us left in the auditorium.  He mentioned that, for the first time in many years, his group is nearly fully staffed.  Five new employees have recently been hired and only one vacancy exists.  This has permitted the organization to move more briskly with projects that had stalled because of staffing issues.  He mentioned completing more than 33 park and facility improvement projects and that the proposed Fiscal Year 2014/2015 budget will include $294,000 for "small" parks/facility projects.

KNAPP REPLACEMENT RECRUITMENT
Interim Parks and Community Services Manager Penny Loomer reported that the recruitment for a permanent replacement for the departed Bob Knapp is moving forward.  Interviews will be conducted on May 14th and it is hoped to have a new person in place by July 1st.

ACKNOWLEDGING LYTTLE
Before closing the meeting de Arakal mentioned that Park Ranger Lorna Lyttle has recently deployed to Afghanistan, and is one of many members of the city staff who also serve in military reserve units.  He praised her citizenship and wished her well during her anticipated 11 month absence.

Model Flyers Agreement Threatened?

PARKS AND RECREATION COMMISSION MEETING
Thursday, April 24, 2014 the Costa Mesa Parks and Recreation Commission, guided by the steady, confident hand of my friend, Byron de Arakal,  will hold its monthly meeting beginning at 6:00 in council chambers at City Hall.  You can read the agenda HERE.

HSS AGREEMENT RENEWAL
Right off the top is Old Business Item A, the Renewal of the User Agreement with the Harbor Soaring Society, HERE.  A casual observer might think this would be a no-brainer and that it should pass with little controversy.  However, not everything is as they appear to be in Costa Mesa these days, particularly when it involves Fairview Park.

A GOOD COMMUNITY ASSET
Harbor Soaring Society (HSS) has been using a small segment in Fairview Park to launch and fly their model aircraft for more than three decades.  It is  a highly-rated organization which provides each member flyer with $2,500,000 in liability insurance.  From all reports it has been an excellent tenant in Fairview Park, a good custodian of the area assigned to it and provides community outreach beyond the terms of the current agreement.

WHY TINKER WITH THE AGREEMENT?
A year ago the Parks and Recreation Commission extended the agreement, but just for one year, not the five-years requested.  This year it looks to be the same - one-year instead of the 5 requested by the HSS so they can make longer-range plans for infrastructure improvements.

RESPONSIBILITY WITHOUT AUTHORITY?
In addition, this time around it appears that the City - through the Parks and Recreation Commission - is trying to ask the HSS to accept more responsibility for behavior of individuals who are NOT members of their organization without the authority to enforce the rules.  I'm trying to figure out the wisdom of this move and am coming up short.  Read the redline version of the proposed new agreement - Attachment 3 to the staff report - and those items will jump off the page at you.

IS THERE A PLAN AFOOT?
It has been widely assumed that certain members of the City Council covet opens spaces at Fairview Park for playing fields.  Members of the Fairview Park Citizens Advisory Committee appointed by the council have made it VERY clear about their desires to create a sports complex within the 208 acre boundary of the park.  I presumed that the reluctance to approve a longer-term agreement is because there is a plan afoot to oust the HSS at some point in the not-too-distant future.  It will be interesting to see how this plays out tomorrow evening.

NEW FIELD USE AND ALLOCATION POLICY
Also on the agenda is the new Athletic Field Use and Allocation Policy for the commissions consideration.  The staff report is HERE.  The new document, modified to reflect the new reporting relationship since the creation of the new city department - the Parks and Community Services Department, headed by brand new Assistant Chief Executive Officer Tamara Letourneau - also contains some very significant changes in policy,not just appearance.  Please read the redline copy of the new document for quick reference to some of those changes.

NEW DEFINITIONS AND PRIORITIES
For example, in the wake of the controversy surrounding the Friday Night Lights Football program and the Matt Leinart Football program - which apparently cost former Recreation Manager Bob Knapp his job - some re-definition of various user groups has taken place, particularly defining organizations that pay an executive staff.  Pages 3 and 4 begin to reflect those changes.  I noticed one line, standing alone on page 5, that appears to be redlined out of existence.  That line reads as follows:

Priority use of fields will be given to traditional primary season sports and by priority grouping.

What do you suppose that's all about?

WILL ANYBODY SHOW UP?
I have no idea what kind of a turnout to expect for those first two items tomorrow, but I imagine many youth and adult sports groups will attend and, perhaps, address their concerns.  We'll see.

AND TREE REMOVALS, TOO
There are also two tree removal requests on the agenda at the end, HERE and HERE.