Community Commentary -- Tom Egan

Since my solution for city growth problems is new to Newport-Mesans, I

understand how easily it could be mischaracterized, especially in a brief

summary (“City Council sets annual community goals,” Saturday).

I do not support any particular growth rate. Rather, I support a

city’s taking certain concrete steps that will prove to voters that City

Hall can once again be trusted to make development decisions.

In the case of Costa Mesa, I propose that the City Council do two

things to restore trust: first, establish a Restoration Commission whose

charter would be to restore quality of life; and second, dedicate the

entire yearly net city revenue from the latest large development -- about

$1 million annually from the Home Ranch project -- to pay for restoring

quality of life in Costa Mesa.

The Daily Pilot has been serving the Newport-Mesa communities since

1907, and during that time it has reported on growth that was virtually

unconstrained. At first, growth came slowly, but in recent decades, it

has accelerated like a fast-growing teenager. This is entirely proper and

is to be expected; when cities are young, they must scramble and gamble

to grow to a sustainable level of development.

But, as with any teenager in the house, there will be “breakage.” And

discord. And clutter.

Now Newport-Mesa is virtually built out. The teenager is maturing.

It’s time to pick up the pieces, straighten out the messes and get the

house in order. We need to perform a mid-course correction for our mature

phase of municipal life so we can reasonably expect our cities to be

places we’ll like.

It’s not enough to just put the brakes on development with a

Greenlight Initiative and hope to limit future damage. It’s not enough to

draft a general plan and hope the indigestion will pass. We need to go

back and fix what broke while the teenager rampaged through the house.

I’m not talking minor investment, I’m talking a major investment to

restore community character. Merely filling pot holes, for example, will

not get to the core of the quality of life problem; we must roll back

traffic congestion all over town.

It appears that Costa Mesa City Hall has learned from Newport Beach’s

Greenlight trauma.

I’m happy to see Councilwoman Libby Cowan proposing, and council

approving, a major new community objective for improving quality of life.

The objective would have the city dedicate to the task of putting

utilities underground at least half of the yearly city revenue from Home

Ranch.

This is serious money, about $500,000 every year, indefinitely.

This initiative demonstrates the kind of bold leadership that

Newport-Mesa voters need to see if they are ever going to risk any

significant growth again. Growth can be politically viable again, I

believe, if voters see that side effects from past growth have either

been repaired or put on a believable track to being repaired.

* TOM EGAN is a Costa Mesa resident.