Long Night - Loaded With Drama

LONG, ACTION-PACKED MEETING
The Costa Mesa Planning Commission meeting "only" ran until 1:40 a.m. this morning, but it was certainly worth the wait.  What a night!  And, because it ran very long and I actually hope to get my head on my pillow before dawn, you're going to get an abbreviated report on this one.

CONSENT CALENDAR ITEMS PULLED, AS EXPECTED
Because there were several hot button items on the agenda, the City Council Chambers had more than 100 people in it as the meeting began.  As anticipated, three items were pulled from the Consent Calendar for separate discussion - numbers 3, 4 and 5.  Wendy Leece pulled #3, the drainage easement in Fairview Park at Pacific Avenue and cautioned about the possible environmental impact.  Jay Humphrey and Cindy Black expressed their concerns, too.  City Engineer Fariba Faseli explained that this project just formalizes an existing drainage and the item passed on a 5-0 vote.

CONFUSION ON THE REPORT
Barrie Fisher pulled #4, the update from the Community Improvement Division, which should have been more accurately named.  It covers the history and current status of group homes in the city.  The discussion took about 35 minutes.  Community Improvement Division Assistant Director Jerry Guarancino explained the difficulty getting good information from The State and spoke about a trip he and other staffers made to Sacramento to specifically meet with the appropriate parties - and they still didn't get good information.  They explained their concerns about over-concentration of group homes in Costa Mesa and Orange County, but got no satisfaction.  We were left thinking that only pressure directly from the City to Sacramento MIGHT influence how many such facilities can open up here.... the numbers have increased dramatically in the past couple years.  The commission voted 5-0 to receive and file but expressed the hope that this information might be made available on the city web site soon.

DENSITY REPORT
#5, the Summary Matrix of High Density Residential Districts in Orange County Cities was pulled by Jay Humphrey.  It shows Costa Mesa's position relative to other cities and could be interpreted to reflect that we don't have as dense a designation than others.    Another 5-0 vote to receive and file.

APPEAL OF SOLID LANDINGS PERMIT
At 6:45 Public Hearing #1, the appeal of the Zoning Administrators approval of a minor conditional use permit on parking requirements for 657 W. 19th Street at a rehabilitation facility operated by Solid Landings, commenced.  Resident Ann Parker, who has her teeth firmly into the issue of rehab homes city-wide, had paid the fees to appeal this decision and made her presentation assisted by former councilwoman Wendy Leece and activist Teresa Drain, and they nailed it!

The discussion went far-afield of the actual issue, with the lawyer for Solid Landings attempting to smooth things over, but after a half dozen speakers addressed the issue and the discussion went back and forth among the commissioners, after nearly two and half hours the commission voted, 5-0, to grant the appeal. That means Solid Landings cannot operate counseling meetings at that site because they were NOT fulfilling the requirements to which they had agreed.  This may be appealed to the City Council.

ORANGE AVENUE DEVELOPMENT APPROVED QUICKLY
After a short break the commission took on Public Hearing #2, the two-unit small lot development at 1620 Orange Avenue.  This one only took about 15 minutes - the developer had tweaked the project since it was first heard a month ago -  and the commission passed it, 5-0.

MAISON NIXED
Next up was another of the BIG items on the agenda.  At 9:35 the commission began hearing #3, conditional use permit for additional requests for an existing bar/lounge at 719 W. 19th Street.  This is Roland Barrera's operation that used to be called the Lion's Den, but will now be known as Maison.  You will recall that Barrera began renovating this property and also presenting live music without a single permit of any kind - no business license, no building permits, no fire inspections - nothing, zip, nada!  When caught his place was red-tagged and he's been forbidden to do business until all the problems were addressed satisfactorily.  Barrera's interests were represented by Lisa Salisbury, who guided the presentation, supported by Barrera - who made a pitiful, pathetic attempt at an apology to the commission and the community for his transgressions earlier. It clearly was contrived and was not effective.  Architect Bill Mason gave an overview of the progress being made.

DENIED ON A 3-2 VOTE
Twenty-two people spoke to this issue, 5 of which supported it.  The remainder cited noise, smoke, wrong hours, precedent and more.  After a long discussion in which the pros and cons of giving the permit for live music or denying it, which would still allow recorded music and a disk jockey, the commission votes at 11:30 to deny it on a 3-2 vote.  Chairman Rob Dickson and Vice Chair Jeff Mathews voted NO.  I suspect we'll see this one appealed.

CHURCH FARMER'S MARKET
Finally, at 11:45, the commission began considering Public Hearing #4, the proposed Farmer's Market in the parking lot of St. John The Divine Episcopal Church at the corner of Bay Street and Orange on the Eastside of the city.  Commissioner Tim Sesler recused himself because it's his home church - and went home to bed.  This was another contentious item, with many people on both sides of the issue speaking out.  Several modifications had been made late in the day amending the original plan.  For example, no alcohol nor electronics or other non-food items will be sold at this Farmer's Market - only produce, locally grown. 

MIXED SUPPORT
The commission had received 26 letters - 14 for and 12 against - on this project.  29 people spoke to it - 9 against and the other 20 for it.  Concerns were expressed about food-borne diseases, traffic in the immediate neighborhood and the frequency of these events - every Saturday of the year.  Most of those in favor were members of the church and stressed what a great community-building opportunity this would be, and the convenience for shoppers in the neighborhood.

THIN APPROVAL
Pastor Phil DeVaul made the presentations and answered questions.  In the end - at 1:40 a.m. today - the commission voted 3-1 to approve the item, with new commissioner Stephan Andranian voting NO.  The approval made several modifications to the proposal, including a sunset clause that requires this conditional use permit be reviewed before it is renewed two years from the date of approval, which will be June of 2017, which should provide plenty of time to see if this is going to work.

An Interesting Planning Commission Meeting Guaranteed Monday

A FUN-FILLED NIGHT AHEAD
The Costa Mesa Planning Commission meets again on Monday, June 8, 2015 beginning at 6:00 p.m. in City Council Chambers at City Hall and this one is certain to be action-packed.  You can read the agenda HERE.

CONSENT CALENDAR
Right off the top I expect this one to generate lots of interest.  There are three (3) items on the Consent Calendar, alone, that might evoke interest/discussion by members of the audience.  As you know, Consent Calendar items are considered routine and can be voted upon in one bulk vote.  Well, I'm thinking some of these will get pulled for discussion.  For example:

PACIFIC AVENUE DRAINAGE AT FAIRVIEW PARK
Item 3, the General Plan Conformity Resolution for a proposed drainage easement within Fairview Park in conjunction with a new residential development located at 2294 Pacific Avenue, HERE, might get yanked for separate discussion simply because it encroaches on Fairview Park.  We'll see.

GROUP HOME REPORT
Item #4, HERE, which is titled, "Update from the Community Improvement Division", which sounds kind of bland and something most folks wouldn't get too excited about.  However, when you click on the link for the staff report, it takes you to a document titled, "Group Home Ordinance No. 14-13 - Implementation Update Report", which is a whole different kettle of fish!  In this 16 page report there is a lot to consider.  For example, on page 16 - after lots of charts with detail, we are told that in Costa Mesa we have an increase of 134% in Sober Living Homes from 2014 to 2015!  We have, for the same period, an increase in Number of Beds of almost 31%!  So, yes... this report is probably going to require some conversation before the commission votes to receive and file it.

HIGH DENSITY DESIGNATIONS
Item #5, HERE, is the Comparison Matrix of High Density Residential Designations in Orange County Cities, and has some darn interesting data to chew on.  The chart is arrayed in descending order by Units Per Acre, with Villa Park at 3 units per acre and Garden Grove at 60.  The remaining 33 cities fall between those extremes, with Costa Mesa near the top (low) end of the spectrum at 20 units per acre.  I suspect at least one of the commissioners and, more likely, members of the public, might wish to chat about these numbers since there has been recent vocal complaints about high density housing in our city.

SOBER LIVING CENTER PARKING
After all that fun we finally get to the meaty part of the meeting, the Public Hearings.  First one up is #1, HERE, resident Ann Parker's expensive appeal of the Zoning Administrator's approval of a deviation from parking requirements for a group counseling use at 657 W. 19th Street - literally a pebble throw from the Costa Mesa Senior Center.  The Zoning Administrator approved a minor conditional use permit so the applicant - John Morehart - can allow his tenant to operate with only 24 spaces instead of the 67 required by code.  The business is occupied by Solid Landings, a recovery facility.  This one will be VERY interesting.  You might remember Mr. Morehart as the fellow who moved the Huscroft House to a site on Bernard Street and rehabilitated it.  He has many other interests in the city.

ANOTHER SMALL LOT DEVELOPMENT
Public Hearing #2, HERE, is a Planning Application for yet another two-unit residential development at 1620 Orange Avenue that falls under the Small Lot Ordinance.  In another meeting this one might be considered controversial, but it will likely seem tame when compared to the other items on the agenda.   Despite being covered by the SLO, the applicant is still asking for deviations in setbacks - precisely the kind of thing the SLO was supposed to avoid.

ROLAND BARRERA'S MAISON
Public Hearing #3, HERE, should be lots of fun!  This is for Maison, the stealth night club for the notorious Roland Barrera to be located at the site of the former Lion's Den at 719 West 19th Street - half a block from the Costa Mesa Senior Center.  You may recall that the City was alerted to the illegal, non-permitted renovations of this location by Barrera and his cohorts a few months ago and, as a result of that alert, the place was red-tagged and remains so to this date.  Basically, Barrera has thumbed his nose - or used another digital display of disdain - at the City and went about trying to open his place without permits or business licenses.  In fact, the day of the red-tagging musicians showed up expecting to play that evening!  It's going to be very interesting to hear whatever explanation this applicant might have for this behavior.

FARMER'S MARKET AT BAY AND ORANGE
Public Hearing #4, HERE, is the Planning Application from a church, St. John the Divine Episcopal Church, to conduct a Farmer's Market in the parking lot from 9:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. on Saturday mornings, in the heart of a residential neighborhood.  To do this they would rip out most of their landscaped area and replace it with 34 more parking spaces to accommodate the 15 vendor stalls.  This request has many of the nearby neighbors up in arms because their neighborhood is already under siege from a proliferation of group homes and the meetings held for that demographic at the church.  This is at the very busy corner of East Bay Street and Orange Avenue.  While the title says, "Farmers Market" the staff report implies open-air bazaar, with all manner of food and second-hand merchandise - old bicycles, electronics, furniture and lawn and garden equipment - being peddled.  It's easy to understand why the neighbors are upset.