Council will revisit 19th Street zoning

Lolita Harper

COSTA MESA -- Mayor Linda Dixon was successful at Monday night’s City

Council meeting in reopening a zoning issue for a small stretch of West

19th Street, convincing her colleagues on the dais they needed further

clarification.

The council voted 4 to 1 to rehear the issue, which questions whether

the zoning of a portion of the busy street should be redesignated for

residential use -- a designation it had more than 25 years ago.

Councilman Gary Monahan dissented.

On May 6, council members postponed any decisions about the zoning of

the portion of West 19th Street until the council, acting as the city’s

Redevelopment Agency, has a chance to examine it.

Dixon requested the council reconsider its previous postponement and

examine the area again. She questioned whether the public and council

fully understood the issue, particularly which businesses in the 19th

Street area would remain legal if the zoning changed, a staff report

shows.

Monahan refused to vote for a rehearing because he said the council

had already made its decision.

“We already voted on this issue three weeks ago,” Monahan said. “Once

again, we’ve changed our minds. I felt the vote was taken then, and we

should stick to our decision.”

The councilman also said a change in zoning would be detrimental to

the people who have been allowed to operate commercial businesses out of

their homes for almost 30 years.

In 1965, a portion of West 19th Street was designated a “transitional

area” in the anticipation of a 19th Street bridge over the Santa Ana

River. At that time, city officials said the bridge would require a

gradual change in the existing properties from low-density residential to

commercial use.

As a result of past actions, many businesses that operate out of

houses have cropped up along the busy street, including Maciel’s

Dressmaking, New Ends barber shop, CJ Dog Grooming and Cheng’s

Acupuncture.

The businesses are legal, but some residents and the Planning

Commission have expressed an interest in returning the residential feel

to the street.

Planning Commission Chairwoman Katrina Foley said she was surprised

council members held off on returning the area to its original

residential zoning because it was the council that prompted the Planning

Commission to look into the issue.

“We studied the issue and went through the entire public hearing

process,” Foley said.

Foley said the city should not wait for the lengthy Westside

Redevelopment process to make changes on the Westside. There are things

the city can do to help invigorate that area of town while redevelopment

is being studied, and eliminating the transitional zone is one of them.

“The community was really supportive of having that transitional zone

removed,” Foley said.

Resident Mary Fewel said the strip of 19th Street has been stuck in a

“time warp” and no maintenance has been performed in the area because of

the possibility of a bridge.

“The bridge isn’t going to happen in our lifetime, and the best use is

to have it either one way or the other,” Fewel said. “Because the

properties butt up to a residential area, I feel that is the best use.”

Business owners in the area say a zoning change would be ridiculous,

considering the busy traffic on 19th Street. Many speakers at Monday’s

City Council meeting questioned the logic of putting single-family homes

on a busy thoroughfare.

They also claimed the zoning change would devalue their businesses. A

change to residential zoning would allow existing businesses to operate

legally until the title is transferred, which business owners say would

dissuade potential buyers.

Council members are scheduled to take up the issue again June 3.

* Lolita Harper covers Costa Mesa. She may be reached at (949)

574-4275 or by e-mail at o7 lolita.harper@latimes.comf7 .