A Full Schedule Awaits The City Council Tuesday

ONLY AUGUST MEETING NEXT TUESDAY
The Costa Mesa City Council will meet for it's only meeting of the month on Tuesday, August 4, 2015 beginning in Council Chambers at City Hall at 5:45 p.m.  You can read the full agenda, which includes a half dozen items on the Consent Calendar, four (4) Public Hearings, one (1) item of Old Business and four (4) New Business items, HERE.

CONSENT CALENDAR
As has been my practice, I'll take a quick peek at the Consent Calendar - those items that are presumed to be routine in nature and would be voted upon in one vote unless a member of the public, staff or council pulls it for separate discussion and vote.

THE WARRANT
Item #3, Warrant 2540, HERE, includes a few interesting items in the roster of checks used to disburse more than $4 million of your tax dollars.  I'll list a few that caught my interest:

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co - $428,620.02 - City Insurance Premium 15-16
Costa Mesa Conference & Visitor Bureau - $207,031.35 - BIA Receipts for May 2015
Wigmore Insurance Agency Inc - $120,923.00 - Excess Wrkrs Comp Ins Rnwl
CSAC Excess Insurance Authority - $4,612.00 - 15/16 Pollution Liability Ins.
Government Staffing Services Inc - $3,960.00 - Proj. Mgt. Temp Svc 6/15-6/28/15
Quickstart Intelligence - $12,726.50 - In House Training
Randstad Technologies LP - $12,707.50 - Temp IT Support Staff
AssetWorks Inc - $17,988.00 - Fleet Focus Software Upgrade
Clean Street - $58, 524.98 - Street Sweeping Svcs 5/15+Pressure Wash Sidewalk 6/15
G4S Secure Solutions Inc - $61,038.51 - Gail Svcs, 6/15
LINA - $20,041.47 - Premium, 7/15 + Admin Fee 6/15
Moore Iacofano Goltsman Inc - $69,506.15 - GP Update & Environmental Report
Bank of America - Account Analysis - $3,059.65 - Acct Analysis Fee Apr-Jun 15
Liebert Cassidy Whitmore - $2,437.50 - Legal various
Pacific Municipal Consultants - $5,400.00 - Consulting Svcs for Group Home
Quickstart Intelligence - $1,416.00 - In House Training
Scientia Consulting Group Inc - $6,880.00 - On-Site Technical Support
Stradling Yocca Carlson & Rauth - $6,208.00 - Legal, Various
Trauma Intervention Program - $14,061.00 - 2015-16 Annual TIP Service Fee

And, of course, there's much, much more.

DEFERRED COMP. PROGRAM MONITORING
Item #4, HERE, is the award of a contract for deferred compensation plan monitoring services. The awarding of the contract seems straightforward, but I'd like to know who among the city staff is a participant in the deferred compensation plan.

SWAPPING CODE ENFORCEMENT OFFICER FOR A PARK RANGER
Item #6, HERE, is an interesting item.  During the recent budget deliberations/approvals - just a month ago - there was a new Code Enforcement Officer position created for the Police Department.  THIS item is a plan to shift that position from a Code Enforcement Officer to an additional Park Ranger slot.  If you read the staff report you may get the impression that this whole issue didn't get a very thorough vetting before the budget process, particularly since there has been such a high-visibility effort to manage the homelessness issue in our city.  This is curious, at least.

PARK FEES FOR APARTMENTS
The first Public Hearing, HERE, is a proposed change in the park in-lieu impact fees to fold in apartments and to adjust other fees presently being collected.  The comprehensive staff report includes several charts and other visual displays to explain the methodology and comparisons to other cities.  I find it interesting that the Building Industry Association (BIA) has written to support this plan.

PAWN SHOP APPEAL
Public Hearing #2, HERE, is an appeal of the Planning Commission's recent decision modifying a Conditional Use Permit for a Jewelry Store with ancillary pawn services at 1872 Newport Boulevard.  This is a "de novo" hearing, which means we start from scratch on this one.  Could take awhile and it will be interesting to watch the appellants - they are pretty smooth operators, who described in great detail how they sweet-talked the previous owner into selling the business to them.

ST. JOHN THE DIVINE EPISCOPAL CHURCH FARMERS MARKET APPEAL
Public Hearing #3, HERE, should fill the house.  This is the appeal by nearby neighbors of the Planning Commission's recent Conditional Use Permit for a farmers market at an existing church - St. john the Divine Episcopal Church - smack dab in the middle of a residential neighborhood on the Eastside.  This is another de novo hearing, so the entire project will be heard anew.  Again, this one could take awhile.

CODIFYING CAPITAL BUDGET PERCENTAGE
Public Hearing #4, HERE, is an ordinance as a result of the Financial and Budget Policies adopted by the City Council in March, 2015 that requires an allocation of a minimum of five percent (5%) of the General Fund budget to capital expenditures and plan a goal of an additional one and one-half percent (1.5%) to a Capital Facilities account annually.  This is in response to the seven-year capital improvement program that totals over $230 million.

SECOND READING OF A GOOD PROJECT
The only Old Business item, #1, HERE, should take very little time.  This is the second reading on a project for 10 residential units at the site of the old Church of Christ Scientist on Mesa Verde Drive East.

ANOTHER SMALL LOT DEVELOPMENT
New Business #1, HERE, is a Master Plan Screening request for a 10-unit 2 and 3 story Small Lot Residential development at 527 and 531 Bernard Street.  The council will provide feedback so this project may move forward.

ALLOCATING MATT LEINART FLAG FOOTBALL FEES
New Business #2, HERE, is the Council Direction for Allocation of Field Use Fees for the Matt Leinart Flag Football repayment as a result of the incorrect fee payment due to misinformation provided to the city more than a year ago.  This one was requested by council member Katrina Foley, who wished to have these funds - around $25,000 - allocated to sports uses at the two high schools.  Normally, such fees would be deposited into the General Fund and used for normal municipal purposes.  This discussion is going to be fun, particularly since the news media has been full of news that the Matt Leinart Flag Football program similarly misled our friends in Irvine and will be required to pay the ENTIRE amount back, not a portion, as is the case with Costa Mesa.  I don't think anything can be done at this point - particularly when it appears that at least a couple of our council members are star-struck by the fact that Matt Leinart is a USC  football hero and Heisman Trophy winner.  As I said, it will be interesting.

APPEAL FEE REFUND REQUEST
New Business #3, HERE, is the request by resident Ann Parker for a refund of $690.00 fee charged for her appeal of the recent Solid Landings decision.  Based on her appeal the Planning Commission overturned the Zoning Administrator's approval, which was subsequently upheld by the City Council.

SELECTING VOTING DELEGATES
The final item on the agenda, New Business #4, HERE, is the designation of a "voting delegate" and a "voting delegate alternate" for the 2015 League of California Cities Annual Conference in San Jose this fall.  Currently Mayor Steve Mensinger, Councilwoman Sandra Genis and Councilman Gary Monahan are registered to attend the conference.  The City Council must designate the above positions.

NEXT MEETING ON SEPTEMBER 8TH
The council meeting scheduled for August 18, 2015 has been cancelled, but the first full week of September is going to be a whopper, with a council meeting AND a joint study session with the Planning Commission plus a Senior Commission meeting, too.

More Development And Code Enforcement Report

PERHAPS THE ONLY MEETING FOR A MONTH
The Costa Mesa Planning Commission meets again Monday, June 22, 2015 beginning at 6:00 p.m. in City Council Chambers at City Hall.  You can read the agenda HERE.

CONSENT CALENDAR
Under normal circumstances - are there EVER any NORMAL circumstances in Costa Mesa anymore? - we wouldn't pay much attention to the Consent Calendar.  This is where items considered "routine in nature" will be voted upon in one vote, without separate discussion.  However, item on the Consent Calendar MAY be pulled for separate discussion and vote by a member of the commission, staff or the public.  This time around that might just happen.  There are four (4) items on the Consent Calendar this time.  Here's a review:

ITEM #1 - CODE ENFORCEMENT STATUS

You can read about the current status of the Code Enforcement Division HERE.  Issue discussed include staffing, technology, enforcement status and what's ahead.  It's worth a read.

ITEMS #2 AND #3 - EXCESS RIGHTS OF WAY, 970 W. 16TH ST.
You can read #2 HERE and #3 HERE.  The City proposes vacation of a street and highway easement and vacation of a flowage easement to facilitate the development of property at 970 W. 16th Street by the same folks who brought you those 3-story plus rooftop patio developments on Industrial Way and Newport Blvd. and 17th Street and Superior.

ITEM #4 - A REQUEST TO CANCEL THE JULY 13TH MEETING

This staff report, HERE, requests the commission to cancel the scheduled meeting of July 13, 2015 to allow staff to better manage workloads and to coordinate vacations.  Well, I'm all for providing time off for the staff, but the City Council just canceled its meeting for a month later, on August 18th.  Since many of the same staffers will be involved with both groups, it would seem to be a curious bit of coordination... just sayin'...

PUBLIC HEARINGS
There are four (4) public hearings scheduled for Monday night.  Here's a preview of them.

PUBLIC HEARING #1 - ANOTHER PAWNBROKER

This item, HERE, is a request from an existing Jewelry Store at 1872 Newport Boulevard to be permitted to operate a full-service pawn brokerage by eliminating two current conditions of approval for the current Conditional Use Permit.  According to the staff report, this would be the 5th such store in Costa Mesa if approved.  Anecdotally, several residents have expressed concern over opening yet another such establishment because of the dramatic uptick in crime in our city - specifically burglaries, which many times result in exactly the types of items that would be handled by a pawn shop.  This should be interesting.

PUBLIC HEARING #2 - 10 UNITS AT 2880 MESA VERDE DRIVE EAST

This item, HERE,  is another hearing for a Rezone, Planning Application and Tentative Tract Map for a 10-unit detached single-family residential development at the site of the Church of Christ Scientist facility.  Following significant community opposition the developer held two community meetings and the result is the reduction from 13 units to 10, which has probably resulted in a better project for that neighborhood.  A note of interest - this project is in the neighborhood where both the mayor and mayor pro tem live.



PUBLIC HEARING #3 - 6 UNITS AT 2366 ORANGE AVENUE

This item, HERE, is for the development of a 6-unit two-story detached residential development at 2366 Orange Avenue replacing existing single story units.  This development, although utilizing the Small Lot Ordinance, still asks for adjustments to the front yard setback.  The staff recommends approval.

PUBLIC HEARING #4 - 32 UNITS AT 1672 PLACENTIA AVENUE 
This project, HERE, is another live/work development on the Westside.  It is another 3-story live/work development with roof decks and a minimum work space of 250 square feet on the ground floor.  There is a minor modification proposed to permit 8 feet between buildings instead of 10.

FIFTY UNITS AND A CANCELED MEETING..
So, there you have it.  Fifty (50) more units being proposed in our city, more than half of which are vertical structures on the Westside of town.  If the commission approves Consent Calendar Item #4, this will be the only meeting for a month.  We'll see...