Council to mull arts district touch-up

Deirdre Newman

The city of the arts will focus on its arts district tonight when

city leaders look at ways to spice up the area.

The City Council will discuss a master plan for Town Center Drive

and two options for a theater and arts district plan.

The talks come after extensive work by city officials, staff

members and the property owners in the area.

“I think it’s wonderful that the hard work that has gone before,

and a lot of the tenacity of former council member Linda Dixon, is

coming forward,” Councilwoman Libby Cowan said. “And we have an

opportunity to really make a difference now in our arts.”

The theater and arts district refers to the area bordered by

Bristol Street on the west, Sunflower Avenue on the north, Avenue of

the Arts on the east and the San Diego Freeway on the south.

A theater and arts district plan is required by the three

development agreements for the Segerstrom Town Center, the Segerstrom

Center for the Arts and Two Town Center. Development agreements are

hashed out before the city gives its approval to certain projects and

usually include applicants committing money to the city for community

benefits in return for entitlements they receive.

C.J. Segerstrom & Sons is required to fund $1 million in

improvements, and CommonWealth Partners, which owns Two Town Center,

has to pitch in $1.2 million.

The goals of the staff members’ plan are to emphasize the sense of

place that exists in the district -- by ensuring consistency and

superior design for prominent parts of public and outdoor private

spaces -- and to provide a funding mechanism for public improvements.

They suggest establishing a new theater and arts council that would

oversee the administration of the plan and would mainly comprise the

property owners.

Planning Commissioner Katrina Foley proposed another plan, based

on the evolution of the theater and arts district into a first-rate,

mixed-use development that isn’t affected by much outside influence

and oversight. The area is also mostly held by private interests,

with only a small amount of public right-of-way available for

improvement.

Foley’s proposal calls for the same goals as city staff members

propose, but it would eliminate the bureaucracy of the proposed

council and provide funding for arts and music in Costa Mesa public

schools.

The theater and arts council isn’t necessary and wouldn’t have any

independent authority outside the regular city process, Foley said.

And eliminating it would save money and provide the same public

benefit.

The highlight of Foley’s plan is the formation of a Costa Mesa

arts and music scholar grants program.

Only about $650,000 of the $2.2 million total is necessary for the

public improvements. Foley’s plan suggests that a minimum of $300,000

of the rest be allocated for the arts and music scholar program. This

would fund programs, productions, courses, field trips and

scholarships for Costa Mesa public school students ages 4 through 18.

The Planning Commission approved both options in November. The

Cultural Arts Committee preferred Foley’s plan and recommended that

it be approved by the council.

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

company doesn’t have a preference between the two options but would

like to see the necessary actions spelled out as clearly as possible.

“I would rather have clearly defined requirements as opposed to

the idea of this theater and arts council with a mission that, I

think, it’s not clear what the expectations are or will be over the

life of the development agreement, which is 20 years,” Freeman said.

Foley remains confident that her proposal offers more benefits.

“I know there’s a lot of community support for this, and I hope

that the council will see that this is truly a community benefit and

much more so than what the [staff members’] Theater and Arts District

plan has to offer,” Foley said.

Planning and Development Services staff members said they favor

Foley’s proposal.

The council will also consider a master plan for Town Center

Drive, which redraws the portion of Town Center Drive between Park

Center Drive and Avenue of the Arts as a pedestrian-oriented public

plaza linking the major arts venues within the South Coast Plaza Town

Center area.

If the plan is approved, implementing it would require that Town

Center Drive no longer be a public street. The council will consider

this change at another meeting.

Closing Town Center Drive would not have a major negative effect

on traffic outside of the project area, an environmental report

found. Only one intersection within the project area could be

affected -- Bristol Street and Sunflower Avenue. But this can be

alleviated by changing the third northbound through lane to allow

right turns from it as well.

The Segerstroms are pleased with the way the plan is evolving,

Freeman said.

“We see a great opportunity to create a unique asset for the

community and so we’re very excited about it,” Freeman said. “We

think it’s going to work just fine.”

Planning and Development Services staff members recommend approval

of the plan.

* DEIRDRE NEWMAN covers Costa Mesa. She may be reached at (949)

574-4221 or by e-mail at deirdre.newman@latimes.com.