Compromise expected over city car storage rules

Lolita Harper

Leaders of a local car enthusiast club said they are optimistic

that they can reach a compromise with the city tonight about where

and how they can store classic inoperable cars after a promising

meeting with planning officials.

Members of the Costa Mesa Cruiser -- a local group of classic car

enthusiasts -- met with planning department officials last week to

outline alternatives to the city code regarding inoperable vehicles,

which include a distinction between cars that simply don’t run and

those that are wrecked and dismantled. They also proposed a code that

permits cars to be stored on a driveway, under a car cover, or a

paved area that is screened by a six-foot wall or fence.

Mitch Barrie, president of Costa Mesa Cruisers, said the

willingness of planners to hear the concerns represented a possible

compromise. The alternative is included in the staff report as an

option for the council to consider.

Barrie was joined at the meeting by Dave Goss, who is the

president of the Costa Mesa RV Owners Assn. and waged his own

ninth-month battle with City Hall regarding restrictions on motor

home parking. Goss said he has agreed to support the Costa Mesa

Cruisers not only because he supports the hobby but because he is

opposed to an intrusive and overly regulative government.

Barrie agreed, saying the issue goes beyond merely wanting to

preserve a hobby but speaks to a larger issue at hand -- too much

government intrusion. In an effort to “clean up Costa Mesa,” some

city leaders have paved a way for more bureaucratic control, Barrie

said.

“People have come to the council with an agenda to ‘improve’ the

city, without being clear what improvement really means,” Barrie

said. “But in practice it seems to introduce more regulation to

businesses and residents.”

Before the summer of 2000, city codes allowed residents to store

cars that didn’t run on a driveway leading to a garage -- provided it

was covered with an acceptable cover -- or in a yard area that was

screened by a 6-foot-high wall or fence, a staff report states.

New codes passed in 2000 banned those options and made it legal to

store an inoperable vehicle only in a garage or another enclosed

building. City code enforcement officials have said the law also

applies to backyards, if the car can be seen from a second-story

window and is the subject of a complaint.

Councilman Gary Monahan, who has a paved section of his side yard

shielded by a fence where he used to house a couple of race cars, had

asked that the rules be reconsidered in March 2002.

In May, the Planning Commission voted unanimously to uphold

existing property maintenance requirements. Planning Commission

Chairwoman Katrina Foley said the commission was responding to

community feedback that junked, inoperable, cars make horrible

eyesores and drive down the appearance of a neighborhood.

Sandi Benson, the city’s chief code enforcement officer, said

complaints of inoperable cars are frequent in her office. Cars that

have sat in a driveway for a long time, have flat tires, cobwebs or

are up on blocks contribute to blight in the community, she has said.

Barrie said the compromise that he has since reached with planning

staffers was very similar to a previous alternative presented to the

Planning Commission in May but was “never seriously considered by the

commission.”

* LOLITA HARPER covers Costa Mesa. She may be reached at (949)

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