COMMUNITY COMMENTARY -- Janet Remington

In the 1980s, C.J. Segerstrom executives saw Costa Mesa as the future

“downtown Orange County.” But the city’s 1990 general plan showed nothing

so urban.

That plan was laboriously, painstakingly worked out, with persistent

disputes between developers and residents. Other cities began preparing

general plans long after Costa Mesa did and completed them while Costa

Mesa’s feuding parties were still at it. Former Mayor Mary Hornbuckle

lamented at one council meeting that the wrangling had gone on for so

many years that it was embarrassing.

During that knockdown, drag-out fight, the community locked horns with

developers over differing numbers for traffic and air pollution, and over

acceptable zoning, densities and commercial intensities. No one could

call the process careless or frivolous.

The ferocious fighting abated at last when compromises by both sides

enabled the city to produce its 1990 general plan. Segerstrom

representatives participated at every stage of the process and took part

in the final compromises. Now they want to trash them.

Why would residents want to go in that direction? They made

compromises just as the developer did. Why should one party to the deal

be permitted to renege?

Costa Mesa may no longer be a village, but within the city are a

number of communities with village-like qualities and cohesion. It is an

atmosphere most residents cherish. Why would we want less quiet and

safety, worse traffic and worse air?

Why would we want to bring back the threat of a

neighborhood-unfriendly Gisler Street bridge extending across the Santa

Ana River? With the prospect of 6,000 more cars packing a number of Costa

Mesa and Fountain Valley intersections, the city of Fountain Valley is

again talking of a need for a Gisler bridge.

One more point. I live between Baker Street and the San Diego Freeway,

an area described in an older general plan as a low spot -- a basin where

smog collects. This vision for Home Ranch sounds no better than the two

that were approved by Costa Mesa city councils in the 1980s and promptly

thrown out by residents.

JANET REMINGTON

Costa Mesa