Condo decision continues discord

I wanted to comment on the 1901 Newport Blvd. project. Two major

issues in this project have not even been discussed publicly. One is

why is the City Council acting to eliminate the compliance with the

prevailing wage clause? How is that helping the people of Costa Mesa?

It’s not.

Secondly, the city of Costa Mesa has not acted to make sure that

the low-income housing, which is going to be produced in this

process, is restricted to Costa Mesa residents. These things need to

be done if they are going to spend our money.

MIKE BERRY

Costa Mesa

I am definitely not in favor of it being built as purposed. I’ve

written letters in the past to City Council members and the city

manager -- everyone. It’s been going on for months.

The residents that are in the adjacent neighborhood are not

necessarily opposed to a project being built there. It’s just the

size and the density, which involves the parking and the traffic, are

the problematic issues that we have been against from the beginning.

We feel a project that would be approved under the general plan

would be very acceptable to us. Something in the 80-unit range, with

two-story buildings, not three or four, with five stories of parking

structure. A parking structure would not need to be that size if the

density were a lot less.

And there is no open space. If you look at the plans, open space

is just not there. It’s way out of proportion.

The council did not listen to the citizens at the rehearing on

Tuesday night. There was one person who spoke in favor of the project

at its size. No one really has a problem with the project being

placed there. It’s just the density and the height and all the

problems that it brings with it. I’ve been a resident of Costa Mesa

for a lot of years -- 34 years -- and Costa Mesa does need to grow

but not at this rate. This is just way too big.

WENDELL MAYBERRY

Costa Mesa