Cultural preservation or land grab?

S.J. Cahn

COSTA MESA -- City officials may have found a way to end their dispute

with the owners of the California Scenario garden.

But it could turn out to be as heated as the disagreement they are

trying to solve.

On Monday, the City Council will consider changing city laws to place

the sculpture garden, designed by Isamu Noguchi in 1982, on the Local

Register of Historic Places.

As the law regarding historic preservation stands now, the city must

get the property owner’s consent before putting a building or structure

-- which in almost all cases must be more than 50 years old -- on the

historic list.

The altered code would add cultural significance as a criteria for

preservation, remove the need for the owner’s OK and eliminate the age

provision. The Planning Commission also would be taken out of the

process.

Notably, the change would only be for the proposed 54-acre South Coast

Plaza Town Center project, which is bordered by Bristol Street, Sunflower

Avenue, Avenue of the Arts and the San Diego Freeway. It was requested by

Councilwoman Linda Dixon, who has long advocated preserving public art in

the city.

“I think it’s valuable to our city and to the future of public art in

our city,” Dixon said Friday.

Not all of her colleagues see it that way.

“It’s a taking of property owners’ consent,” Councilman Gary Monahan

said.

“What bothers me is it isn’t how Costa Mesa does business,” Monahan

added, referring to a lack of notification given to Commonwealth Partners

LCC, which owns the property where the Noguchi garden sits.

On Friday, Commonwealth’s planning consultant, Phil Swartze, said he

had not seen the proposed change or heard from anyone at the city about

it.

He added that he was not sure if anyone from the company would be at

Monday’s council meeting because he had not yet spoken to his boss, James

R. Anderson, a partner at Commonwealth Partners.

If they do attend, Swartze said, they would be interested in finding

out if the change would supersede an agreement Commonwealth is trying to

reach with the city for its part of the Town Center project.

The details of that agreement were nearly worked out in February, but

a month later, council members failed to approve it because they could

not decide how long Commonwealth should be required to maintain the

garden for public use.

At the same time, the council did reach agreements for the development

of other parts of Town Center owned by South Coast Plaza Partners and the

Orange County Performing Arts Center.

The three groups’ ultimate goal is to create a pedestrian-oriented

cultural arts district.

Swartze also cautioned that the proposed change could have an

expensive consequence for Commonwealth, if it meant the company would be

required to get a state-approved environmental review of even minor

repairs.

Such reviews could take as long as six months and cost $25,000,

Swartze said.

It is such reasons that had Monahan calling the proposal “too blatant

of a property taking.”

The city, Monahan said, should be working with the property owners and

other members of the community to come up with such proposals.

And, he said, it is clearly an attempt to get control over the Noguchi

garden.

“This is just so blatant,” he said.

Dixon disputed that the change was specifically focused on the garden.

“It’s to preserve cultural resources,” Dixon said, who also dismissed

charges that the proposal was made without proper notification to

Commonwealth. “I think I’ve been really upfront with what I feel about

the preservation of public art.”

Dixon also stressed that the change would only cover Town Center and

would not give the city carte blanche to add buildings or areas to the

register.

Mayor Libby Cowan, who has been leading the negotiations with

Commonwealth over how long the company should maintain the garden, agreed

that the proposal is “not something brand new.”

“I think the whole interest in preserving historical resources has

been growing in the city,” she said, adding that after initial looks at

the proposal it seemed OK to her.

Monahan said he doubted there will be enough votes to pass the

measure.