Huscroft House plans are history

Lolita Harper

Plans to move the Huscroft House to Fairview Park are as abandoned

as the old house looks -- left to slowly decay on its lonely

Arlington Drive perch.

City officials confirmed Thursday that plans to move the

Craftsman-style home to Fairview Park have been scrapped, and leaders

again are asking the question: What will become of the deteriorating

slice of the city’s past?

The City Council has yet to take any formal action on the Huscroft

House -- originally built in Santa Ana in 1915 but moved to Costa

Mesa by the Huscroft family in 1950 -- but the overwhelming consensus

among council members is that the house will not be moved to Fairview

Park as previously planned.

Councilwoman Libby Cowan said the momentum behind the campaign to

save the old house was spent.

“I think it was a great idea, and I certainly supported it, but

the opportunity has passed us by,” Councilwoman Libby Cowan said.

What hasn’t been spent is the $200,000 the city garnered from the

Home Ranch development agreement to move the Huscroft House to

Fairview Park. During Home Ranch negotiations last year, Councilman

Chris Steel convinced developer C.J. Segerstrom & Sons to designate

money toward the project. The money would have covered the cost of

the move to Fairview Park -- last estimated at $175,000 -- but would

not pay for any restoration or maintenance, officials said.

“In reality, the $200,000 that Chris put into that development

agreement is just not enough,” Cowan said. “The city would still be

looking at a good sum of money to make it all work.”

City officials are trying to figure out what will become of the

$200,000 from the development agreement. City Manager Allan Roeder

said outside counsel is looking into whether the terms of the

development agreement could be modified to allow the money to be used

for some other purpose. The details have yet to be determined, but

Roeder said preliminary opinions indicate the $200,000 could be

redirected if both the city and the Segerstroms were willing.

Paul Freeman, spokesman for C.J. Segerstrom & Sons, said the

family is open to negotiations.

“We are not closed-minded, we just need to know exactly what it

is,” Freeman said.

Roeder said the city could not make any formal proposals to the

dynasty family about redirecting the money until the council formally

voted to reverse its decision to use the $200,000 to move it to

Fairview Park.

The house was moved to Costa Mesa in the 1950s and occupied by the

Huscroft family. In 1998, the city accepted the donation of the house

with the intent of restoring it, moving it to Fairview Park and using

it as a museum.

Debate surrounding the Huscroft House has lasted for more than a

year. Members of the community have been vocal on both sides of the

issue, claiming the house is a historic treasure or claiming it is a

waste of public funds.

Last summer, the council decided to put the house up for sale

rather than spend taxpayer money to restore it but received only one

formal proposal after months of open bidding. Council members denied

the proposal and instead voted to use the Segerstrom money to move

the house to Fairview Park.

Councilman Gary Monahan, who did not regard the old house as

highly as some of his council colleagues, said he was glad the costly

project was being abandoned.

“There just wasn’t enough financial support out there for it, and

it was going to be a big bottomless money pit,” Monahan said. “We can

do a lot better than a big junk house that would just drain our

resources.”

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

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