Costa Mesa may ask Newport to back off

Deirdre Newman

City leaders will consider asking Newport Beach to drop its proposal

to annex an area that includes West Santa Ana Heights.

City Manager Allan Roeder will encourage the City Council today to

ask Newport Beach to terminate its efforts to annex an area that

includes Santa Ana Country Club, West Santa Ana Heights and a mostly

residential area south of Mesa Drive between Santa Ana and Irvine

avenues.

Costa Mesa’s best chances of blocking Newport’s annexation of the

area is to address the issue now, before Newport considers a formal

request to the Local Agency Formation Commission, which it is slated

to do in March.

The city is adamantly opposed to Newport Beach annexing the

country club, Costa Mesa Mayor Gary Monahan said.

“That cuts right through Costa Mesa and gives them a portion of

Newport Boulevard, which we’re responsible to maintain -- it’s a

major traffic thoroughfare,” Monahan said. “And [the club’s]

surrounded [by Costa Mesa] on all sides, so that doesn’t make any

sense.”

Costa Mesa applied to annex this 288-acre area in 2001. The

commission approved the city’s request, with the exception of West

Santa Ana Heights, which Newport Beach had already made a preliminary

move to annex.

The commission’s exemption of West Santa Ana Heights set off a

protest vote by residents in the rest of this area who wanted the

Newport Beach zip that would raise their property values by 10% to

15%, and Costa Mesa’s annexation efforts were squashed.

Once Newport began looking into annexing the area, the owner of

the country club told Councilman Steve Bromberg and his colleagues

that club members wanted to be part of Newport Beach, Bromberg added.

Newport is interested in annexing this area because it comes with

$30 million since it’s part of a redevelopment district, Bromberg

added.

When Newport filed to annex the area, its applications included a

much bigger area than just West Santa Ana Heights. In addition, they

included the Santa Ana Country Club and the area south of Mesa Drive,

which includes two parcels within the current Costa Mesa city limits.

“If you look at the circumstances, in light of the protest vote, in

light of Newport Beach’s actions in moving forward not only to annex

the county-incorporated areas but literally remove neighborhoods in

Costa Mesa, I think that prompts a very necessary response from the

City Council,” Roeder said.

Last October, Monahan sent a letter to the Newport Beach Planning

Commission in opposition of the annexation. But the commission and

the City Council approved the applications in January.

Newport Beach should consult with Costa Mesa about its intentions,

Monahan said.

“If Newport Beach is going forward on this, they should be working

with us and not jut blasting forward without including Costa Mesa in

discussions of areas within our sphere,” Monahan said.

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

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