City Files Suit Against New Harbor Inn

FILE UNDER "IT'S ABOUT TIME!"
By now many of you have read the announcement by The City of Costa Mesa regarding the legal action taken against another "problem motels", the New Harbor Inn, 2205 Harbor Blvd.  You can read that information HERE.

 LOOKING FOR MORE INFO
When I first saw that I wanted more information than was available at the time, so I attempted to scrounge through electronic sources to get more information on what kind of egregious activities would have prompted this severe action by The City.  I was unsuccessful, finding only a couple references that the New Harbor Inn was improving since The City decided to begin waging war on motels in the city a few years ago at the insistence of Mayor Steve Mensinger and Mayor Pro Tem Jim Righeimer.

THE COMPLAINT AVAILABLE NOW
Today, though, a copy of the actual complaint has been made public.  You can read it HERE.  Trust me, once you reach the point early in this document where The New Harbor Inn is described as "a hub of criminal activity in Orange County" you probably won't stop reading.

YIKES!
As you read down through paragraph after paragraph listing events and tallying-up crimes at that location you get a clear picture of why something had to be done.  Yes, this place is a den of iniquity.

AS THE LEGAL SYSTEM GRINDS ON
So, now this legal drama will play out and it seems likely that a court will force something very serious to happen with that location - perhaps closure.  That's probably a good thing, right?

GARRETT'S CLOSING... HMMMMM?
Then I began wondering about Garrett's Furniture Store next door, which is closing shop.  I began thinking what a nice big chunk of land could be made by combining those two sites.

WHAT ABOUT TRADE WINDS MOBILE HOME PARK?
And then I began thinking about the Trade Winds Mobile Home Park right next door and wondered what kind of huge development might be possible if ALL THREE of those properties were combined.  I'm sorry, but these guys force my mind to work this way!

WATCH FOR FAMILIAR NAMES
It's going to be very interesting to watch this drama unfold, and to see what the future holds for all of these properties... and if any of the campaign contributors to certain local politicians end up involved with these properties.

General Plan and Draft EIR Approved By Planning Commission

A BRISK, SHORT MEETING
The Costa Mesa Planning Commission made a fairly short night of it Monday as they slightly juggled the agenda to shove the General Plan issue to the end.

HEROES HALL AND SIGNAGE
Under Public Comments Beth Refakes told of the move of the Heroes Hall building move at the Orange County Fairgrounds that morning.  She also complimented the staff on the completion of the Costa Mesa monument sign at the end of the 55 Freeway.

 OPINIONS NOT CONSIDERED
Kim Hendricks spoke of the various General Plan workshops and how it appeared that many of the opinions express by the public had not been considered, particularly regarding Fairview Park.

SOBER LIVING AND ILLEGAL NIGHT CLUBS
An unidentified woman expressed concern about the sober living homes, and told the commission that a new restaurant, Holiday, was opening at the site of the defunct Maison on 19th Street and expressed concern about the completion of necessary repairs - sprinklers, etc.

BOGUS "NON-PROFIT" DOING WORK AT FAIRVIEW PARK
Cindy Black was concerned about a "non-profit" group doing work in Fairview Park, indicating that they are pretending to be conservationists but know nothing about conservation.  She also took exception to the whole General Plan process, describing it as a "show".

SOBER LIVING NOT ON AGENDA AS PROMISED
Pat Murphy showed up expecting to speak to the sober living issue, but it was not on the agenda.  She described the negative impact of such places in her neighborhood.

THE WRONG FOCUS
During Commissioner Comments  Colin McCarthy waved a copy of the Orange County Register in the air, citing an article about two people who had stabbed a man at one of the motels - using the event to further denigrate motels in the city.  He complained that they were a drain on public safety resources and that they "weakened our brand."  He said we "shouldn't be hearing about this in the paper." What he failed to mention is that the Costa Mesa Police Department - in a stellar piece of police work - snatched up the two perpetrators in less than 24 hours and had them in jail.  Politics in Costa Mesa is not a pretty thing.

STAFF KUDOS
Tim Sesler complimented the staff for their "thoughtful, smart, consistent approach" for the city.

THANKING SPEAKER
Stephan Andranian thanked Ms. Murphy for coming to speak.

PROBLEM MOTEL PRIMER
Chairman Rob Dickson gave us a little primer on the "Motel Task Force" - and how his assignment was to do something about the problem motels. 

OOPS!
Nobody pulled the Boathouse Collective review from the Consent Calendar for discussion so it was approved along with the minutes of the previous meeting, 5-0.  Unfortunately, nobody told the owners of that restaurant, so they and their kids sat in the audience for an hour before they discovered it.  Oh, well.

410 WALNUT PLACE
Public Hearing #1, the Tentative Parcel Map for a big Eastside lot not too far from my home, was promptly approved on a 5-0 vote.  None of the nearby neighbors showed up this time, so one assumes they're going to be happy four large lots on which four large homes can be built.  The developer, Steve Scarborough, apparently took great pains to communicate with the neighbors following the previous meeting where the plan for five lots was rejected primarily because the neighbors didn't like it.

2242 PACIFIC
Similarly, Public Hearing #2, the two-lot subdivision at the corner of Pacific and Wilson on the far Westside was quickly approved.

OPERATING HOURS FOR THE HUB
Public Hearing #4, which was moved ahead one slot, is the request for expanded hours of operation by The Hub restaurant on Old Newport Boulevard.  The chart below shows what they were requesting.  The commission approved expanded hours - from 7:00 a.m. - 2:00 a.m. Thursday through Saturday nights and 7:00 a.m. - 11:00 p.m. Sunday through Wednesday.  They also included the longer hours for New Year's Eve, regardless what day it falls on AND, to placate concerns about noise for the nearby neighbors, a provision that all cars will be removed from the back parking lot at Midnight and it will be locked at that time.

GENERAL PLAN AND DRAFT EIR
This brought us to the big item of the evening, Public Hearing #3, the General Plan Update and Draft Environmental Impact Report.  Assistant Director of Development Services Claire Flynn kicked off the four-part presentation by reminding us this was the fourth such hearing, which had followed nearly three years of public outreach via the Great Reach process.  The staff report for this item was about an inch thick.

FAIRVIEW DEVELOPMENTAL CENTER
Among the issues discussed were the Fairview Developmental Center property, which will receive a new, previously-unused zoning designation of "Multi-Use Center".  There remains some conflict between the City and The State regarding the density for this property, and also for the open space.

The Airport Land Use Commission also signed in with conditions they need to be met by the General Plan, such as height restrictions and sound levels.

US Fish and Wildlife also presented its views.


PRIOR CONCERNS ADDRESSED
Consultant Laura Stetson, who has been intimately involved in this process for the entire time, addressed some of the concerns expressed by individuals at the last meeting.  Some of those are covered by the following slides.

NO FAIRVIEW PARK CHANGES IN GENERAL PLAN
Colin McCarthy affirmed that nothing changes at Fairview Park as a result of the General Plan update.  Acting City Engineer Bart Mejia confirmed that fact, and advised that the Fairview Park Citizens Advisory Committee will begin meeting again to complete their work to fulfill the update of the Master Plan of Parks, which is a decade old.  McCarthy also complimented the staff for its creative solutions to the FDC issue.

AFFORDABLE HOUSING ALSO NOT INCLUDED
During the discussion it was affirmed that Affordable Housing is NOT included in this General Plan update - McCarthy made it clear that the City Council provided a strong signal on how it feels at the last meeting, when they rejected Katrina Foley's idea for an Inclusionary Housing Ordinance.

TRAFFIC NUMBERS UPDATED
A representative of the consulting firm Stantec updated us on the traffic issues.  These slides show some of that information.

FISCAL IMPACT UPDATED
Consultant Roger Dale updated the Fiscal impact, as these slides show.

CALCULATIONS INCORRECT
During the Public Comments segment Kim Hendricks told the commission that their data on "distance to parks" is incorrect, and provided information to the commissioners.

DENSITY, TRAFFIC, OWNERSHIP RATIO AND MORE
Cynthia McDonald expressed concern about the density and traffic.  She also indicated that the renter vs. ownership housing ratio is headed the wrong way - from what was presumed to be 60/40 to 67/33.  She also implied that there was a plan for "district parking" similar to Davis - which severely restricts individual parking in certain areas of that town.  She also expressed concern for the lack of new parks, but the increasing population that will increase the demand for parks.

BEMOANING LOSS OF AFFORDABLE HOUSING...
Kathy Esfahani, representing the Costa Mesa Affordable Housing Coalition, again bemoaned the loss of affordable housing in the form of so-called "problem motels" - another of which was just cited by The City Monday.  She also quoted Mayor Pro Tem Jim Righeimer from the last council meeting, citing some of his comments as "stupifyingly ignorant comments by someone who says he's an expert on affordable housing."  She also said 10 cities have Inclusionary Housing Ordinances.  As an aside, Righeimer was on the John and Ken Show on radio station KFI Monday afternoon pontificating about Affordable Housing for about 10 minutes.

...AND AGAIN
Linda Tang, representing the Kennedy Commission again complained about the loss of affordable housing units in motels, specifically citing the Costa Mesa Motor Inn, which is currently embroiled in two lawsuits, so the project to demolish it and replace it with luxury apartments has stalled.

FDC 20 YEARS OUT
During the subsequent discussion McCarthy opined that the Fairview Development Center is probably a 20 year discussion, and that there will likely be some "horse trading" with the State before anything gets done there.  He also opined, again, that despite evidence to the contrary, he "knows" the city needs more playing fields, but didn't provide any kind of qualification for that opinion.

MOVED THE ITEMS FORWARD
The commission voted to recommend that the City Council certify the Draft EIR and the General Plan.  Flynn told the commission that the next step is for the Airport Land Use Commission to review the documents tentatively at their May 19th meeting, after which it will go to the City Council for consideration.

Planning Commission Votes To "Zero-Out" Long-Term Stays

HOBBLING MOTEL OWNERS
The Costa Mesa Planning Commission, on a 4-0 vote, (Vice Chair Rob Dickson was absent) decided to pass the staff recommendation that will make it virtually impossible for Costa Mesa motel operators to house folks for long-term stays on to the City Council for further action/codification.  If the council passes this measure motels will no longer be able to use up to 25% of their rooms for long-term stays without a conditional use permit.  Unless they qualify, their allocation would be dropped to ZERO!

CRITERIA OUTLINED
The staff report, HERE, provides the details of their decision.  As I mentioned in my previous entry about this issue, in order for a motel operator to qualify for a conditional use permit for long-term stays at their establishment they must meet very specific criteria.  Those are:

1 - The motel must have a minimum of at least seventy-five (75) rooms.
2 - Fireproof safety deposit boxes must be available to all occupants of the motel.
3 - Each guest room shall be serviced daily with central maid, mail, and room services.
4 - Each room shall be a minimum of three hundred seventy-five (375) square feet.
5 - The motel shall maintain on-site laundry services.
6 - The proposed use is compatible with the surrounding neighborhood, uses, zoning and general plan.

AN ADDED CONDITION
As they were about to take the vote they added one additional proviso - that there be some capability to prepare meals in units earmarked for long-term stays.  The staff will cobble together some verbiage for the presentation to the City Council - sometime next month.

PERSONAL EXPERIENCE?
As that issue evolved Chairman Jim Fitzpatrick told his fellow-commissioners, the staff and the handful of folks in the audience that he thought it was important because he had gone through a situation where he spent some time in a motel and really needed cooking facilities.  One had the impression that his experience was recent...

COMPLY OR GET OUT!
Commissioner Colin McCarthy said this ordinance seemed quite rudimentary and was surprised there was any opposition to it at all.  He told us that if businesses don't want to follow these minimal standards to help folks who are down and out then, "I don't want them doing business in our city".

CORRESPONDENCE MISREPRESENTED
As part of the discussion Kathy Esfahani - a member of the Costa Mesa Affordable Housing Coalition - spoke to what she referred to as the misrepresentation of a letter from her on the subject written a year ago that formed part of the foundation of this move to oust long-term residents from motels.  To his credit, Fitzpatrick gave her much more than 3 minutes to present her views, then gave her a little more time to further clarify the issue.

MOTEL OPERATOR SPEAKS OUT
Among the speakers on this subject was Mike Lin, owner of the beleaguered Sandpiper Motel.  He opined that the fact there are people who NEED long term housing is not a result of actions the motel operators take - it's the result of actions those folks take.  His words fell on deaf ears.  The commission certainly appears to be completely unsympathetic with him on these issues.

WE NEED MORE AFFORDABLE HOUSING
Former City Councilman and current council candidate Jay Humphrey told us that there are only two motels that might qualify now, then spoke on the need for affordable housing, and pointed out to the commissioners that NONE of the many projects they and the city council have approved recently had ANY affordable units included.  He implied that was very short-sighted of them.

TAMAR GETS IT RIGHT
Tamar Goldmann, as she spoke on this issue, may have captured that sentiment more precisely when she referred to it as a "let them eat cake" attitude.  Uh, huh...

TATTOO PARLOR APPROVED (BARELY)
The only other item on the agenda was the request by operator Eric Jones for another tattoo parlor in town, at 1145 Baker Street.  Surprisingly, this request got a luke warm reception.  McCarthy said he wouldn't vote for it at the planned location because it was across the street from a residential neighborhood.  The issue passed on a 3-1 vote, but you got the impression from the almost complete lack of enthusiasm for the business that it could easily have gone the other way.  McCarthy had made a motion to deny the request, but received no second to it.  So, those of you in the north part of town will soon have your own tattoo parlor for your inking pleasure.

UNNECESSARY POLITICIZING OF ISSUES
An interesting sidebar - McCarthy was the first to politicize this issue by mentioning the "silly season" is upon us - campaign season.  Then, during his little discussion, Tim Sesler mentioned Humphrey's presentation and referred to him as a council candidate - completely ignoring the fact that Humphrey is a regular attendee at most important city meetings and a regular presenter of facts and questions and offers solutions, too.  Indeed, the "silly season" is upon us.

SHE'S FINALLY HEARD!
Oh, yes... before I completely forget... the woman that Mayor Jim Righeimer stiff-armed at the last council meeting when he prohibited her from addressing the council during Public Comments - I'm sorry, I missed her name -  had another shot at it when she and her husband addressed the Planning Commission at the beginning of the meeting about the poor condition of their street in front of their home.  They complained about lack of responsiveness from City Staff.  Fitzpatrick jumped right on it - referred her to Bart Mejia who was standing in for Fariba Faseli in the meeting.  One had the impression this problem would be solved rapidly.  Too bad she had to wait another week to be heard.