INSIDE CITY HALL Here are some of...

INSIDE CITY HALL

Here are some of the items the council considered Monday:

IKEA PARKING LOT

The council considered a request from IKEA to change the Home

Ranch master plan and the North Costa Mesa Specific Plan to allow

construction of a new parking lot for its business at 1475 South

Coast Drive.

In November 2001, when the project was approved, 1,520 parking

spaces were proposed. But changes made to the parking lot during

construction resulted in there being only 1,430 parking spaces

available. IKEA bought the corner property next to its site for a

parking lot.

Since this was a substantial change of use from the offices that

were approved for this site under the Home Ranch master plan, review

of the change was required.

WHAT HAPPENED

The council unanimously approved the request.

TEWINKLE PARK IMPROVEMENTS FUNDING

The council considered reallocating funding from other sources in

the amount of about $1.3 million for approved upgrades to the

TeWinkle Park lake, athletic complex and skateboard park.

WHAT HAPPENED

The council approved reallocating the funds, with the conditions

that any of the funds that are not spent be returned to the special

projects account and that a list of where the funds are allocated

from be maintained. Councilmen Allan Mansoor and Chris Steel

dissented.

This is where the money will come from:

* $299,760 in 2002 Roberti-Zeberg-Harris funds, which are granted

by the state and can only be used for the purchase, development or

redevelopment of parks for recreational purposes.

* $200,000 from the existing Net Revenue/Special Projects account

* $100,000 from the TeWinkle School parking lot contribution.

These are city funds, not Measure A funds, that the school district

is using for upgrading its schools.

* $300,000 from the Fairview Park Development Fund

* $133,000 for the construction of a traffic signal, for which no

location has been designated yet

* $150,000 from the Missing Link Sidewalk capital improvement

project

* $70,000 that was going to be used to replace the Wakeham Park

picnic shelters. Public services staff members have determined that

these structures will last for another several years, with some

repairs.

WHAT WAS SAID

“I have some concerns with some of the allocations, like the

sidewalk funds,” Mansoor said. The vote was 3-2 with Steel and

Mansoor dissenting.

TEEN COMMITTEE

The council considered disbanding the Advisory Committee of Teens

as a formal committee of the council and instead expanding the

committee to advise both the council and the recreation division.

The Advisory Committee of Teens is a council-appointed committee

that was created in 1997 to provide perspective and input regarding

community projects, improvements and activities that appeal to youth.

It also responds to requests for input from the council, commissions,

committees and staff members.

Over the past two years, the committee has had several meetings

where a quorum of the members was not achieved and some staff members

felt more time was being spent on organizing the committee rather

than the committee’s activities.

WHAT HAPPENED

The council approved disbanding the committee and putting the

group under the auspices of the recreation division. The vote was 4

to 1 with Mansoor dissenting.