Commissioners approve small condo conversion

The Costa Mesa Planning Commission recently approved a small condominium project that commissioners say will improve an area of the city that has gangs and substandard housing.

The property owner, Irvine resident and ReMax Real Estate Services Realtor Debbie Mundia, plans to convert the two-story structure’s three apartments into three condominiums.

The area surrounding the condominium project site at 3005 Coolidge Ave. is known to north Costa Mesa residents as the “Coolidge-Filmore slums,” commissioner Donn Hall said at the Oct. 23 meeting. “There are a lot of gangs there and substandard housing because of the landlords.”

The substandard housing, Hall said, is on land that is leased. The people who manage the property on behalf of longtime family trusts don’t want the property sold because they want to keep their jobs, he said.

Commissioner James Fisler said despite the project’s density and lack of parking, he was supporting it because he thinks it will benefit the city.

Fisler also spoke about his experience with gang members near the project site.

“I eat at a little strip mall restaurant across the street a couple of times a week, and I have had gang members come up and spit on my windshield, and show gang signs and tell me, ‘You don’t belong here, whitey,’ — Blondie, excuse me,’ ” Fisler said. “I know it’s a bad area. It’s been going bad for years. I know that the existing homeowners have done a lot in that area to keep it from going downhill, and they sort of staved everything off except for this one little section. And this is the first step that we can take to improve this project and get some pride in home ownership.”

Mundia, who has owned the property since February, believes her project will not only improve the area aesthetically, but also provide affordable housing. Depending on the real estate market, Mundia said she plans to sell the condominiums for between $400,000 and $450,000.

“I’m trying to create more affordable home ownership that is in such high demand in Costa Mesa,” Mundia said. “My main goal is to improve the neighborhood. If you have a homeowner he is more likely to take care of his property.”

Several candidates for the Nov. 7 council election — Mayor Allan Mansoor, planning commissioner Bruce Garlich, former Councilman Mike Scheafer and parks and recreation commissioner Wendy Leece — commended Mundia’s project, which the planning commission unanimously approved.

Only Mansoor and Scheafer commented on Fisler’s mention of gangs.

Scheafer, who along with the others is running for two open council seats, said he frequents the same restaurant and has never been harassed.

“I’ve never been spat on. Comments like that have never been said to me,” Scheafer said. “I eat there once a week. I go through there daily and no one has accosted me.”

Councilwoman Katrina Foley also said she eats at the restaurant with her family several times a week.

“If something like that happened to me, I would have called the police,” Foley said. “We’ve never experienced anything like what he [Fisler] described there in the shopping center.”

Costa Mesa Police Sgt. Martin Carver said the Coolidge Avenue area is not plagued by gangs.

“We don’t receive a high number of calls over there. There are some calls, and there are some gang members who may hang out in those alleys, but we regularly patrol them to make sure they don’t hide in those alleys and make sure they don’t set up camp,” Carver said. “I would say that we don’t have a high number of calls over there. We have some, but not a high number. There are some people who live in the general area who will call on everything, but many times it’s just people who are talking in the alleys and are not gang members whatsoever.”

Still, Mansoor maintains the area has had some problems for a while.

“That’s why I believe revitalization efforts have to be a part of the solution along with good law enforcement,” Mansoor said.

The council has approved funding for two additional gang detail officers, and the police department is participating in the Tri Agency Regional Gang Enforcement Team, he said.

“All of our police positions are fully funded, we increased funding for recruitment efforts and we have officers in the academy right now, and laterals coming over from other agencies,” Mansoor added. “And our police department will be brought up to full staffing levels.”