From: Erik Emri
To: CITY CLERK
Subject: Walktober
Date: Tuesday, October 3, 2023 8:41:24 AM
Dear City Council members and City Clerk,
My wife and I are long-time Costa Mesa residents and we love it here. Unfortunately, I can’t say this city is pedestrian and family friendly when it comes to our streets. For us, this begins right on our doorstep.
We live in Mesa Verde and cross Mesa Verde Drive East (between Adams and Baker) 4x a day - walking our dog, walking our daughter to school. There are no protected crossings, there are plenty of blind spots due to the twisty nature and trees lining the street. Worst of all, it’s a speedway! Cars rarely do the speedlimit, the local car dealerships use this stretch as a driving loop for customers to test performance cars, and the majority of cars use it as a shortcut to avoid Harbor and Adams traffic. We have to run across the street - often carrying my daughter - daily to make it safely across.
I implore the city to take a look at this street. There are schools nearby, there are more kids in the area than even 5 years ago, and it seems that rules and regulations that govern this street aren’t fit for today’s pedestrian population.
With gratitude,
Erik
CAUTION: This email originated from outside of the organization. Do not click links or open attachments unless you recognize the sender and know the content is safe. Report any suspicious activities to the Information Technology Department.
From: Colin Cody-Waters
To: CITY CLERK
Subject: Walktober Initiative and Pedestrian Infrastructure Date: Monday, October 2, 2023 8:13:03 PM
In observance of "Walktober" and "Walk to School Day", I'd like to take the opportunity to voice some ways I think our pedestrian infrastructure could use some attention.
We reside in College Park and, while we enjoy many aspects of living in the city, our experiences with walking - even short distances to places like our daycare less than a mile away or down Wilson to Harbor Center - have been persistently challenging and often unsafe. Navigating a double stroller through obstacles on the sidewalks and alongside fast-moving traffic is unnerving and, frankly, it’s discouraging us from making the healthier and more environmentally friendly decision to walk instead of drive.
Costa Mesa is becoming more dense, which is largely positive, but it's also highlighting the problems of overcrowded parking and non-pedestrian-friendly pathways. It's a bit of a dilemma.
It’s apparent that our sidewalks need an overhaul. Wider pathways would provide enough space for walkers, strollers, and unsupervised youths on e-bikes to coexist without the unnerving near-misses. Additionally, implementing some basic pedestrian safety measures, especially in areas where foot traffic is heavy, would significantly improve the situation and, I believe, encourage more residents to leave their cars at home for short trips. Costa Mesa is already a great little city, and I'd love to make it more pleasant.
Your consideration of this matter is appreciated.
Thank you for your time,
Colin Cody-Waters
CAUTION: This email originated from outside of the organization. Do not click links or open attachments unless you recognize the sender and know the content is safe. Report any suspicious activities to the Information Technology Department.
From: [email protected]
To: STEPHENS, JOHN; HARLAN, JEFFREY; REYNOLDS, ARLIS; MARR, ANDREA; GAMEROS, LOREN; HARPER, DON;
CHAVEZ, MANUEL
Cc: CITY COUNCIL; CITY CLERK; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]
Subject: Proposed Emergency Operations Center on Fairview Developmental Center Date: Monday, October 2, 2023 11:02:50 PM
Honorable Mayor and City Councilmembers:
The State of California is trying to put a square peg into a round hole.
The location of a proposed Emergency Operations Center project on the Fairview Developmental Center property is inappropriate because the site has been designated for badly needed affordable housing.
In June 2022, the California Legislature adopted a budget which, among other things, gave the City of Costa Mesa funding for the management of the planning of affordable housing on FDC. See SB 188, which added Section 14670.31 to the Government Code.
During the past year, the Office of Emergency Services has been interfering with that planning by incrementally carving off more and more of the available 102 acres of FDC for its proposed EOC. Assemblymember Cottie Petrie-Norris noted this in her scoping letter dated April 15, 2023. While SB 188 states that the Department of General Services may transfer land to other state agencies, to date that has not occurred. I doubt it is the intent of DGS to reserve nearly 15% of the FDC property for a use that would highly impact the development of the remainder for housing.
Gov’t Code Section 14670.31(a)(7) states “It is the intent of the Legislature that the Fairview Developmental Center property be utilized for a mixed-use development, including mixed-income housing. The development would include and prioritize affordable housing, including at least 200 units of permanent supportive housing, and open space.”
Gov’t Code Section 14670.31(c)(4) provides “The agreement shall require that housing be a priority in the planning process and that any housing proposal determined to be appropriate for the property shall include affordable housing.
The agreement and the development plan shall provide for housing and affordable housing at a level consistent with the January 2020 council-adopted strategy of 1,500 units and the housing assessment in the Department of General Services’ 2021 Infrastructure Assessment of up to 2,500 units for the site.”
The plan for building an EOC on FDC conflicts with the stated priority in the legislation as well as Governor Newsom’s two executive orders.
The environmental impacts of the proposed project on the nearby community would be great, despite the statements in the Draft Environmental Impact Report that any impacts could be mitigated. The nearby residents would be subjected to three years of noise and pollution during construction, and then would have to live with a large orange and white communications tower with continuously blinking red lights, and the Blackhawk military helicopters that would take off and land from the military-grade helipad.
The most damaging of the environmental impacts would occur during actual emergency operations. There would be considerable air pollution, presumably from the diesel trucks that would be going in and out of the facility and idling while delivering/picking up supplies from the warehouse. You may have seen in the report that the reason for expanding the project was the State determined it needed more warehouse space to store disaster-related supplies and equipment.
In Section 3.5.5 of the DEIR, the last sentence is very informative: “Helicopter activity during emergency operations is speculative and cannot be quantified.” In other words, there could be a hundred flights in and out each day during emergency operations.
Also, Section 4.7.5 states: “The project would develop an Emergency Operations Center in Southern California that would mirror the operations of the existing State Operations Center in Mather, California, and act as a backup Emergency Operations Center in the event that operations at Mather are interrupted.” This is the camel’s nose under the tent. It is the intent of the State to expand this project to eventually become a much larger facility like the one in Mather, and the likely reason for building a roadway extension through a nearby unimproved lot, thus rendering it difficult to develop.
The City will be required to produce its own Environmental Impact Report in connection with its planning for the remainder of the property. The impacts of this project will need to be disclosed in that document as well.
I ask that the City work to convince the State to remove FDC from its consideration for the location of the EOC, and that the preferred alternative location for the project in Tustin be studied instead. This would enable the City of Costa Mesa to focus on a specific plan for FDC that would best suit the needs of the community and future residents.
By copy of this email to Assemblymember Petrie-Norris, Senator Min, and Supervisor Foley, I request that each of you assist the City and its residents in this regard.
Thank you for your attention.
Cynthia McDonald
CAUTION: This email originated from outside of the organization. Do not click links or open attachments unless you recognize the sender and know the content is safe. Report any suspicious activities to the Information Technology Department.
From: HAUSER, JANET
To: GREEN, BRENDA; TERAN, STACY
Subject: FW: Oppose Emergency Ops. Center at FDC in Costa Mesa Date: Monday, October 2, 2023 3:17:25 PM
Attachments: image003.jpg
Please see email below from a resident.
Janet Hauser
Executive Assistant to Costa Mesa City Council
City of Costa Mesa
77 Fair Drive
Costa Mesa, CA 92626
Desk: 714-754-5107
Cell: 714-949-3693
[email protected]
Note: Using the “Reply All” option may inadvertently result in a Brown Act violation.
Costa Mesa is launching a new permit and license processing system called TESSA in August. TESSA will replace our existing system and all land use, building and business license applications currently in process will be transferred to the new system. To learn more about TESSA, visit our FAQ page at https://www.costamesaca.gov/tessa .
cid:[email protected]
From: KATHERINE ARTHUR <[email protected]>
Sent: Monday, October 2, 2023 3:00 PM
To: CITY COUNCIL <[email protected]>
Cc: [email protected]
Subject: Oppose Emergency Ops. Center at FDC in Costa Mesa
Dear Mayor and Council: we’re reaching out to ask you to aggressively oppose the development of an Emergency Operations Center in the middle of Costa Mesa. It’s the wrong location for all sorts of reasons and it belongs in a more industrial area… not the heart of our city surrounded by residential neighborhoods.
This would have a very significant impact to the city and most residents are unaware that this is being considered. As such we hope you will consider doing a mass mailing to CM residents to encourage them to get involved and reach out to their state electeds.
Sincerely,
Katie Arthur/Herb Netal
400 Cabrillo Street
From: HAUSER, JANET
To: GREEN, BRENDA; TERAN, STACY
Subject: FW: Fairview Developmental Center/State Emergency Operations Center Project Date: Monday, October 2, 2023 4:43:11 PM
Attachments: image003.jpg
Please see below.
Janet Hauser
Executive Assistant to Costa Mesa City Council
City of Costa Mesa
77 Fair Drive
Costa Mesa, CA 92626
Desk: 714-754-5107
Cell: 714-949-3693
[email protected]
Note: Using the “Reply All” option may inadvertently result in a Brown Act violation.
Costa Mesa is launching a new permit and license processing system called TESSA in August. TESSA will replace our existing system and all land use, building and business license applications currently in process will be transferred to the new system. To learn more about TESSA, visit our FAQ page at https://www.costamesaca.gov/tessa .
cid:[email protected]
From: Larry Amor <[email protected]>
Sent: Monday, October 2, 2023 4:42 PM
To: CITY COUNCIL <[email protected]>
Subject: Fairview Developmental Center/State Emergency Operations Center Project
This is in reference to the meeting just held by the state at the FDC.
Since the Costa Mesa FDC is not the preferred site, why are they even addressing Costa Mesa? AS you may notice the preferred site is vacant land already in the hands of the state.
The site in Tustin / Redhill Ave will not impact home values, with aircraft noise and high rise antenna lights.
This project should not be considered in Costa Mesa!
OPPOSE IT!
Larry Amor 1875 Wren Circle
Costa Mesa
CAUTION: This email originated from outside of the organization. Do not click links or open attachments unless you recognize the sender and know the content is safe. Report any suspicious activities to the Information Technology Department.
From: Patty Grothus
To: CITY CLERK
Subject: Eoc opposed!
Date: Monday, October 2, 2023 5:16:09 PM
Sent from Yahoo Mail on Android
CAUTION: This email originated from outside of the organization. Do not click links or open attachments unless you recognize the sender and know the content is safe. Report any suspicious activities to the Information Technology Department.
From: Wendy Simao
To: CITY CLERK
Subject: Meeting 10-3
Date: Tuesday, October 3, 2023 5:44:57 AM
Attachments: Screenshot_20230929_200758_Drive.jpg
Here is the CUP I'm going to be referring to tonight. It's for the UFC gym on Harbour from 2016. Wendy
CAUTION: This email originated from outside of the organization. Do not click links or open attachments unless you recognize the sender and know the content is safe. Report any suspicious activities to the Information Technology Department.
From: David Martinez
To: CITY CLERK; STEPHENS, JOHN; HARLAN, JEFFREY; HARPER, DON; GAMEROS, LOREN; MARR, ANDREA; CHAVEZ, MANUEL; REYNOLDS, ARLIS
Subject: Comment on Consent Calendar Item 6
Date: Saturday, September 30, 2023 6:55:45 PM
Members of the City Council,
On June 15, 2021, the City Council considered and approved the purchase of 6 new police motorcycles. Video of the meeting is available here with the minutes available here. As part of the motion to approve, the City Council gave the instruction to "explore the option to purchase electric motorcycles in the future."
Since it has been more than 2 years since this instruction was given, I expected some information about this to be included in the Staff Report for Consent Calendar Item 6. Instead, no mention was made of the option for electric motorcycles.
Duluth, GA has 3 electric police motorcycles in their fleet (though I can't say I completely
endorse the off-road usage, I'd recommend an e-bike for that) Fairport, NY has an electric police motorcycle.
Marquette University Police Department also has an electric police motorcycle.
Moab, UT purchased a few
So has Livermore, CA
And Panama City, FL
So, it's been used in the field already so previous concerns about lack of precedent or testing are no longer there. I think we should have already been looking into this, so we should postpone this item until the Council's prior motion is properly addressed.
Best,
David Martinez
CAUTION: This email originated from outside of the organization. Do not click links or open attachments unless you recognize the sender and know the content is safe. Report any suspicious activities to the Information Technology Department.