EDITORIAL

It didn’t take 50 years, but it sure felt like it.

On Monday, the Costa Mesa City Council finally reached an agreement

with Commonwealth Partners on a plan that will ensure the California

Scenario garden is kept up and kept open to the public.

Commonwealth, along with South Coast Partners and the Orange County

Performing Arts Center, is working to build a pedestrian-oriented

cultural arts district at Town Center, an area bordered by Bristol

Street, Sunflower Avenue, Avenue of the Arts and the San Diego Freeway.

The city readily approved the other parts of the project proposed by

South Coast Partners, which owns South Coast Plaza, and the Center.

But the future of the garden -- designed by Isamu Noguchi in 1982 --

proved a major sticking point as city officials tried to work out a deal

with Commonwealth to develop its part of Town Center.

At first, it appeared an agreement had been reached under which

Commonwealth would maintain the garden for 25 years. Surprisingly for

Commonwealth officials, the City Council backtracked and nixed it as its

members -- led by Councilwoman Linda Dixon -- began pressing for the

garden to be maintained “in perpetuity.” That wording sent Commonwealth

into a whirl, which is understandable: Commonwealth, which all along

stressed it had no plans to alter the garden, is in the business of

making money.

Finally, last week -- and not without last-minute glitches that almost

delayed the deal again -- the council and Commonwealth reached the end of

a negotiation that should never have dragged on at such length.

Commonwealth, after all, owns the garden and could have torn the whole

thing down, ending the back-and-forth debate in the worst way possible.

But it didn’t, and the city should have recognized that as the good-faith

gesture it was.

The Noguchi garden rightly deserves protection, and the council,

residents and Commonwealth should be pleased with what is in place. But

with so many other important issues facing the city -- redevelopment of

the Westside, opposition to development in other parts of town, not to

mention a council that is running less than smoothly -- these

negotiations were an unfortunate use of energy that could have been

better spent.

With all this bad history, the council still must approve the rest of

its agreement with Commonwealth. It would be a shame for more time to be

wasted.

Still, there is one positive to find from all the messy negotiations:

Perhaps all the press reports will raise residents’ interest in the

garden, many of whom hadn’t visited it and didn’t even know it was there.

They should see what all the fuss was about. It’s on Anton Boulevard

behind the El Torito Grill.