THE POLITICAL LANDSCAPE:Councils may opt to give fees a chance

As Costa Mesa City Council members ponder whether to charge developers a fee for library services, Newport Beach officials are on track to hike the city’s park fees by nearly a factor of five.

Like many cities, Newport requires home builders either to donate park land when they build or pay a fee toward parks instead. The present fee of $6,894 per residential unit hasn’t gone up in 20 years, so the city recalculated it based on a formula that uses the current value of two existing parks.

The proposed new fee? A whopping $33,962 per unit. Developers have asked the council to postpone a decision more than once, but the issue could be headed to a vote next week. As Councilman Ed Selich put it, “The formula’s set in code. There really isn’t much to argue about.”

In Costa Mesa, council members talked last week about a possible fee for library services, but they seem skeptical that what’s proposed, about $500 a unit, would raise any significant funds. Library boosters will soon launch a major capital campaign, but don’t be surprised if someone proposes a local library bond issue.

Residents press council on rehab homes

A third meeting of Newport Beach’s committee on group homes and drug and alcohol rehab houses was held April 12, but the real action in the future may be at City Council meetings.

People who are concerned about the homes will continue to press for a moratorium, said Lori Morris, one of several residents who’s been active on the issue. In five days, they collected 300 signatures from residents supporting a moratorium on the homes. They brought the issue to the council again Tuesday.

City Atty. Robin Clauson said last month she would look into whether the council could legally establish a moratorium. A number of state and federal laws protect drug recovery homes, and city officials have said that limits their ability to regulate the homes.

Morris said the signatures show city officials aren’t taking the issue seriously enough.

“They keep saying, ‘Oh, it’s just this small group,’ ” she said. “It’s not. It’s hundreds of people that are concerned about this.”

In this ongoing and emotional issue, tempers have begun to flare, with residents saying the city isn’t listening, while city officials maintain that they’re doing what they can through the committee and state legislation.

“I’d still like to work with the residents if they’re willing to work with us on a reasonable basis,” said Mayor Steve Rosansky, who chairs the committee. “But it’s difficult when they’re shouting at us from the audience.”

Today’s meeting is scheduled from 6 to 8 p.m. in the friends room of the Newport Beach Central Library, 1000 Avocado Ave. Representatives of the state Department of Alcohol and Drug Programs, which licenses and regulates some of the rehab facilities, will speak.

UPDATED STATS ON IMMIGRATION HOLDS

Immigration detainers at the Costa Mesa jail are always of high interest to Daily Pilot readers, so here’s some more information to add to last week’s story about the March statistics.

Federal officials report a total of 43 detainers placed on people suspected of being illegal immigrants in March, rather than the 40 shown on Costa Mesa Police arrest logs. An immigration agent has been working at Costa Mesa Jail since December, and for three of those four months there have been slight discrepancies between city police numbers and federal numbers of detainers, but it’s not clear why.

Jim Hayes, Los Angeles field office director for Immigration and Customs Enforcement, said the detainers — down in February but back up in March — show the partnership with Costa Mesa is productive.

Countywide, federal officials placed immigration detainers on 680 people last month, which Hayes called “a significant increase over the prior month.” Until the federal government stepped up immigration screening efforts in October 2006, Hayes said, there were probably only about 85 to 90 detainers placed in Orange County each month.

“I think there’s a need for us to be in Costa Mesa. I’m glad that we’re there, and probably after a year we’ll look back and see if we can identify any trends,” he said.

RUMORS OF PORN SHOP ON ISLAND ARE FALSE

And just to set the record straight, because newspapers like to do that sometimes, a shop selling pornography isn’t opening on Balboa Island. For those who saw a sign in the window at 215 Marine Ave. last week announcing “Coming soon, Adult XXX bookstore,” it was an April Fool’s gag by the building’s owner, city officials said.

“My phone started ringing off the hook Monday morning, and I just kind of started laughing,” Newport Beach City Councilman Ed Selich said last week. “I said, ‘Gee, what kind of a market is there for sex toys on Balboa Island?’ ”

Not everyone was in on the joke, though. One Corona del Mar resident wrote to the Daily Pilot this week to ask, “Do the tourists coming to Balboa during the summer really need a shop in the center of town for their porn needs? Don’t they bring their laptops already loaded with their favorite stuff and Wi-Fi connection?”

Selich said city code inspectors made the owner take the sign down April 2.

LOCALS GET INTO PRESIDENTIAL CAMPAIGN

Several of the Orange County GOP’s movers and shakers have been named to former Mass. Governor Mitt Romney’s presidential campaign team for California. Newport Beach Congressman John Campbell and former state GOP Chairman Mike Schroeder of Corona del Mar are among the 13 co-chairs, the campaign announced Wednesday.

Former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani has been the leader in the race to become the GOP’s 2008 presidential nominee, but Romney is considered one of the front-runners. Fundraising data released earlier this month by candidates showed Romney at the head of the pack.

Other Romney supporters from Orange County include Huntington Beach Assemblyman Jim Silva and Orange County GOP Chairman Scott Baugh, who lives in Huntington Beach.