Historic home’s fate remains uncertain

Deirdre Newman

The tortuous saga of the Huscroft House has taken another twist as

the prospective owner has appealed its relocation.

The historic Craftsman-style house has been in limbo for more than

four years as city leaders wrestle with its fate. Late last year,

John Morehart came to the rescue when he expressed a desire to move

the home to his 12,000-square-foot property on the Westside.

Although the Planning Commission approved the move on June 9,

Morehart appealed the decision three days later because the

commission did not allow him to subdivide the property. He said

dividing the property is imperative since it’s the only way to ensure

the historic glory of the house -- which he will be investing his

time and money into to renovate -- will be appreciated.

“It’s the kind of thing someone has to take pride in, and it’s

been proven that renters don’t worry about details,” Morehart said.

“It has to be the kind of thing where someone will say, ‘Guess what

I’m doing this weekend? I’m painting the trim on the house.’”

Planning Commission Chair Bruce Garlich said the appeal did not

surprise him. He said Morehart’s arguments for subdivision rang as

hollow as the rusty pipes in the Huscroft House.

“I think he was asking to be allowed to do 10 things that were not

allowed and there was not a lot of justification for doing most of

those; it wasn’t justified by most of the land-use arguments,”

Garlich said. “He needed us to ignore the rules and let him do things

we wouldn’t let anyone else do so he could move the Huscroft House.

And I wasn’t buying [those] arguments.”

The historic home was built in Santa Ana and moved to Costa Mesa

in 1950. In 1998, the city of Costa Mesa spent $54,000 to move the

house from 2529 Santa Ana Ave. to TeWinkle Park. Three years later,

the council approved its restoration for use as a cultural museum in

Fairview Park, but later decided to sell the house and put it out to

bid. At the end of the formal bidding process, only two bids had been

received, both of which fell through.

At the end of 2001, the city said it would use the $200,000

designated from the Home Ranch development agreement to move the

historic home to Fairview Park but expected the community to match

the money. That did not happen, and by September 2002, the

dilapidated home was headed to demolition. That was when Morehart

stepped up and offered to move the house to his property at 548

Bernard St.

Mayor Gary Monahan said he supports Morehart’s resoluteness in

wanting to subdivide the property. Monahan pointed out that an

earlier council provided direction on subdivision to the Planning

Commission.

“The idea was -- we wanted it to work,” Monahan said. “Subdivision

was mentioned way up front so I think the only way he’s going to make

it work is to subdivide it and if we’re unable to do that as a

council, then [we’re going to lose the home].”