Street sweeping causes stir in Mesa Del Mar

Jennifer Kho

COSTA MESA -- A proposal to begin street sweeping in Mesa Del Mar has

been met with controversy by the neighborhood’s homeowners.

While many favor having the streets swept, a slight majority doesn’t

favor the proposal provision that calls for handing out citations to cars

parked on the streets during street sweeping times, Mesa Del Mar

Homeowners Assn. President Lance Hailstone said.

“I understand where they’re coming from,” he said. “I have a big party

coming in July. A lot of [guests] are driving here from out of the state

and where are they going to put their cars? They are staying at my house,

and I don’t have that much parking. Some have it even worse because some

of the homes here have driveways that are too short for any cars to fit

on.”

Peter Naghavi, transportation services manager for the city, presented

the proposal at a homeowners association meeting this month.

“The City Council is considering sweeping all the streets in the city,

but in order to find out what the impacts would be, we will hopefully

implement a program in the Mesa Del Mar tract before making a decision,”

he said. “I couldn’t tell whether they were in favor of it or not. I

guess I’ll find out at the City Council meeting.”

In a straw pole the association conducted, 31% of the residents were

opposed to ticketing, but 90% favored street sweeping, he said.

The council is scheduled to consider the pilot street sweeping program

Monday.

The city is proposing Mesa Del Mar for the pilot program because it

includes easy freeway access, dead-end streets, apartments, single-family

homes, short and regular driveways -- many of the variables that could

affect street cleaning in the rest of the city, Naghavi said.

Right now, only a few of the Mesa Del Mar streets are swept regularly.