Sanitary district acquires new land near JWA

The Costa Mesa Sanitary District has finalized the acquisition of its new, larger headquarters near John Wayne Airport.

What’s more, the district did it without racking up debt.

Last month, directors approved a $5-million budget to buy and remodel their new nerve center at 290 Paularino Ave. — a spending plan that called for the district to finance roughly $3.2 million over 20 years.

On Thursday, they opted to scrap the financing component and use cash.

“Being debt-free, I think, makes a lot of sense for us,” board President Mike Scheafer said during Thursday’s board meeting.

“I think this is the way to go, myself,” agreed board Vice President Arthur Perry.

Not financing is expected to save the district more than $1 million in interest, said district General Manager Scott Carroll.

Forgoing financing only recently became a possibility, Carroll said, after the Orange County Sanitation District iced a proposal to install a large sewage pipeline through Talbert Regional Park in Westside Costa Mesa.

The effort was indefinitely suspended due to escalating costs and the uncertain prospect of boring beneath the Santa Ana River.

The Costa Mesa district had expected to kick in about $7 million for the project — money that would have been used to decommission a handful of pump stations the pipeline would have rendered unnecessary.

The district already had set aside about $3.7 million for that purpose, Carroll said.

With the pipeline off the table for now, those funds became available.

“We don’t know when, or if, that project is ever going to come to fruition,” he said. “The board decided it would be more prudent to spend that money now.”

District cash will cover a little more than $3 million of the roughly $5 million price tag to secure and renovate the Paularino property. Another $770,000 or so is expected to come from fixture fees.

The remainder will come from the sale of the district’s current digs at 628 W. 19th St.

Sanitary district board members voted in closed session May 18 week to sell that property, which officials say is too cramped to serve the district’s needs, to the Rogers Family Trust for $1.3 million.

Carroll doesn’t know what the trust plans to do with the building.

The board had previously voted May 13 to accept a $1.31-million offer from a different prospective buyer, Charles Co., but the firm backed out for unknown reasons a few days later, Carroll said.

The 19th Street property is in escrow, and the district officially received the deed for the Paularino property on Thursday.

Though the Paularino property is now officially in the district’s possession, it’s not time to cut the ribbon just yet. A good deal of work is planned to modify the building to suit the district’s needs.

Some of the more substantial changes include renovating restrooms so they comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act and building a larger boardroom with space to seat about 30 community members. The current boardroom is a much tighter squeeze, with room for only four or five outside visitors.

As part of the sale agreement, the sanitary district has the option of leasing the current headquarters building through the end of the year for $1 a month.

The goal is to move into the Paularino building in November, Carroll said, “but who knows what happens once we start knocking down walls?”

“We’re very appreciative that the Rogers Family Trust gave us that little bit of a cushion,” he said.