Costa Mesa still wants county land

Deidre Newman

City leaders are renewing their efforts to annex a swath of

unincorporated land and urging Newport Beach to back off its attempt

to grab the area.

The City Council on Tuesday voted 4 to 0, with Councilwoman Libby

Cowan absent, to continue trying to annex a 288-acre area within its

sphere of influence. The area includes West Santa Ana Heights, the

Santa Ana Country Club and a mostly residential area south of Mesa

Drive between Santa Ana and Irvine Avenues.

Newport Beach is trying to annex this area because many residents

and country club members covet a Newport Beach ZIP code and because

it would yield a pot of $30 million in redevelopment funds. Tuesday’s

decision put Newport Beach on notice that Costa Mesa will not

acquiesce to its neighbors’ incursion.

“This is something I think we have to fight for,” Costa Mesa

resident Bob Graham said.

Costa Mesa applied to annex the 228-acre area in 2001. The Local

Agency Formation Commission, which has the final say on annexations,

approved the city’s request, with the exception of West Santa Ana

Heights because Newport Beach had already made a preliminary move to

annex it.

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

protest vote by residents in the rest of this area. The protest vote

was successful, quashing Costa Mesa’s annexation efforts altogether.

Once Newport began looking into annexing West Santa Ana Heights,

the owner of the country club told the Newport Beach City Council

that club members wanted to be part of Newport Beach as well.

When Newport filed to annex the area, it applied for not only West

Santa Ana Heights and the country club, but the area south of Mesa

Drive, which includes two parcels already within Costa Mesa city

limits.

“I think Newport Beach is attempting a land grab,” Costa Mesa

resident Beth Refakes said Tuesday.

Newport’s interest in the country club is especially galling

because the club is bordered on almost all sides by Costa Mesa,

Graham said.

“If Newport Beach gets it, it strikes right at the heart of Costa

Mesa,” Graham said. “It’s like us trying to annex Balboa Island.”

Councilman Allan Mansoor said that Newport Beach should respect

Costa Mesa’s boundaries and its sphere of influence.

“This is clearly in Costa Mesa’s sphere,” Mansoor said. “I think

it’s ridiculous that Newport Beach wants to annex areas that are

already part of Costa Mesa.”

None of the residents or country club members who want to be part

of Newport Beach showed up Tuesday to express their sentiments to the

council. Russell Niewiarowski, a West Santa Ana Heights resident who

has been a vocal proponent of annexation by Newport Beach, said his

neighborhood remains unified in its hope to be part of Newport.

“Costa Mesa can try all it wants to stop the process or persuade

the people to change their mind, but that’s just not going to

happen,” Niewiarowski said. “And I just wish Costa Mesa would focus

on the territory they do have and better that [rather] than try to

stop what’s already going forward.”