COSTA MESA : Agency Urges Study of City Plan for SOS

The Community Development Council on Wednesday refused to approve a city plan under which the CDC would share its building with a charity forced by complaining neighbors to move.

Agency directors instead voted 11 to 0, with one abstention, to let a committee study the city-initiated plan for Share Our Selves to occupy 4,200 square feet in the council’s building at 1695 W. MacArthur Blvd.

Under the plan, SOS would move into the 35,000-square-foot facility--with part of its rent being paid by the city--until the charity can find and purchase its own quarters.

However, it is uncertain if any such plan would be implemented because SOS directors this week rejected a similar proposal.

CDC officials said Wednesday that they want SOS to be included in any lease talks.

The plan provides two options for the charity’s relocation. Under a three-year option, SOS would sublease space at a monthly rent of $3,780. SOS would initially pay $610 of the rent, with the city picking up the $3,170 balance. The charity would pay 25% of the rent during the next 12 months and 50% during the last year of the arrangement.

Under a short-term option, SOS could enter a six-month lease but would be required to pay more rent for the same space. The city would pay only 25% of the monthly bill.

The City Council narrowly approved the plan Tuesday night and agreed to guarantee the financial terms.

The CDC’s lease on the building expires in August, 1992, and SOS directors had complained that if they accepted the long-term option they would be forced to relocate again if the CDC decided not to remain in the building.

SOS directors also called the six-month option impractical should they find a permanent home before the lease term expired.

The charity has made offers on two industrial buildings in Costa Mesa. One is known as the Fabric Store, at 18th Street and Placentia Avenue, and the other is at 1550 Superior Avenue. Both are on the west side of the city and are likely to draw opposition from some of the same residents who opposed the charity’s presence at the city-managed Rea Community Center, its home for the past nine years.

One of the county’s largest private charities, SOS is being evicted from the Rea center by the City Council. The city had earlier denied a request that the charity be allowed to remain at the center while looking for a new home.