City votes to return neighborhood to residential-only zone

Lolita Harper

COSTA MESA -- The City Council voted unanimously Monday to return a

residential-only zoning designation to a small portion of West 19th

Street, while allowing existing businesses to operate from the area

indefinitely.

Council members voted 4 to 0 to turn what is formally called the “19th

Street Transitional Zone” into a purely residential neighborhood,

blocking any business that is not already established from opening in the

area. Councilman Gary Monahan was not at the meeting.

Mayor Linda Dixon, who fought to have the issue brought back to

council after a decision was postponed last month, said she thought the

vote sent a message to the community that the council was taking action

to improve the Westside.

“This is a step in the right direction,” Dixon said. “I believe that

business owners do have the right to continue their businesses but this

is best for the community at large.”

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.

The area maintained its residential zoning but an additional

“transitional layer” was created to allow businesses to be run from the

properties. The transitional area runs from 854 to 1014 W. 19th St. --

even numbered properties only -- and 1903 Federal Ave.

As a result of past actions, 10 businesses that operate out of houses

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

New Ends Studio, CJ Dog Grooming and Cheng’s Acupuncture.

The businesses are legal, but some residents and city officials

expressed an interest in returning the residential feel to the street now

that the city is in the process of removing the bridge from official

plans.

A handful of those business owners spoke out in opposition to the

rezoning, saying their properties would devalue if a business was not

permitted on site. Families would have no incentive to buy a home on the

busy thoroughfare if they couldn’t also run a business from the location,

they argued.

Nori Bunasawa, owner of the Judo Journal at 880 W. 19th St., presented

the City Council with a petition of about 150 signatures formally

opposing any action by the city to turn the area back into a residential

neighborhood.

Many speakers, however, were comforted by a new provision to the

zoning change that allows them to sell their business even after the

title on the home changed. Dixon said she added the provision to protect

the business owners’ property investment.

“You can stay exactly where you are and do exactly what you are

doing,” Dixon said, explaining in the same breath that the new business

would be considered “nonconforming” and would be subject to certain city

requirements.

Property owner W.D. Heidorn, who does not own a business in the area,

said the zoning change protected business owners from loosing money on

their land but not him. He said he bought his parcel because it had the

potential to house a business. Heidorn has now lost the right to open a

business on the property and therefore lost thousands of dollars in value

because he could not sell it with that incentive, he said.

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

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