Council to take on two hot-button issues

Two heated issues are on the agenda for the Costa Mesa City Council on Tuesday.

First, the council will hear an updated proposal from Christ Lutheran Church & School to make some additions and renovations to its campus. When Christ Lutheran received approval for the construction project from the Planning Commission, dozens of outraged neighbors organized an effort to get the City Council to revoke the permission.

Council members told Christ Lutheran that it hadn’t done a sufficient job of working with the neighborhood and encouraged the leadership to hold a community meeting to hear suggestions from the roughly 30 residents who spoke against the proposed expansion.

Working with the neighbors last month, the school drafted a revised proposal that city officials think addresses most residents’ concerns.

The biggest point of contention was a house in the neighborhood adjacent to the school that Christ Lutheran owns and was proposing to turn into a fenced-off green space. Neighbors said the proposal would detract from their home values and destroy the character of the neighborhood.

In the latest proposal, the house will remain standing.

A few other significant changes aim to get fewer cars to speed through the neighborhood and to give residents more privacy.

Later in the evening, the council plans to take up the subject of fireworks sales, after having a study session last month when Mayor Pro Tem Wendy Leece suggested some ways to charge community groups for extra enforcement on the Fourth of July and urged stricter measures to curb the use of illegal fireworks.

It’s a touchy subject because many youth sports organizations and school booster clubs earn thousands of dollars each year by running fireworks booths.

The meeting begins at 6 p.m., but public hearings won’t start before 7 p.m.

Reporter ALAN BLANK may be reached at (714) 966-4623 or at alan.blank@latimes.com.