Westside redevelopment zone put on hold

Lolita Harper

Preliminary plans for redevelopment on the Westside hit a road

block Monday evening as a dozen effected property owners asked for

the issue to be delayed so they could analyze the details some more.

Planning commissioners, who were charged with the preliminary task

of outlining specific boundaries to be added to the existing Downtown

Costa Mesa Redevelopment Project Area, originally created in 1973,

voted unanimously to postpone their decision.

City-hired consultant Urban Futures Inc. recommended a jagged

border that encompasses 434 acres along the length of West 19th

Street and portions north and south of the major thoroughfare between

Anaheim and Whittier avenues, according to a staff report.

Commissioners had to endorse the proposed added territory before

passing it on to the Redevelopment Agency -- also known as the City

Council -- for official approval.

Planning Commission Chairwoman Katrina Foley said she felt

business owners should have more than 10 days to review the city’s

proposal and adequately assess how it may affect them. Foley said she

not only wanted to hear from property owners and residents, but from

the council, to see if there is even support for redevelopment.

“I think it is important we see where the council stands on this

before we spend a lot of taxpayer money to go nowhere,” Foley said.

At the direction of City Council, consultants surveyed almost the

entire Westside -- 1,008 acres -- in introductory steps on the

redevelopment process. Properties were scrutinized for blight, such

as deteriorated structures, residential overcrowding, poor

maintenance and lack of parking.

Planning Commissioner Eleanor Egan said she was disheartened by

the city’s redevelopment efforts. Costa Mesa has a history of

starting a project with full gusto and then making a “U-turn,” she

said.

“It is happening, and I can feel it happening and I feel kind of

discouraged,” Egan said. “Any time change is proposed, those people

that are invested in the status quo knock it down, and I am not

optimistic that anything will happen.”

Some residents have pushed for the redevelopment area to include

the entire Westside and parts of north Costa Mesa, but officials warn

that the process is stringent and exact.

Former Planning Commissioner Chris Fewel said he would like to see

the residential area on Center Street from Pomona to Placentia

avenues be added to the redevelopment area to reserve the option to

create a neighborhood shopping center in that area.

Areas that were not studied in the initial “survey” cannot be

included without starting the entire process over, experts said.

Also, properties that are borderline blighted are problematic because

they could be legally challenged.

If just one owner succeeds in proving his or her property is not

truly blighted, it would invalidate the entire redevelopment process,

and city leaders would have to start from square one, officials said.