Costa Mesa is ‘in full bloom,’ mayor says during State of the City breakfast

With a strong business climate, multiple major capital projects underway and a continued focus on enhancing public safety and the arts, Costa Mesa is a city “in full bloom,” Mayor Katrina Foley said Thursday.

Speaking during a State of the City breakfast presented by the Costa Mesa Chamber of Commerce, Foley recounted the top priorities of city leaders, provided an update about ongoing projects and gave a peek at what’s ahead.

“We have great culture,” she told a crowd of more than 125 at the Avenue of the Arts hotel. “If I could use one word to describe Costa Mesa, it’s ‘culture.’ We embrace the culture of our community. We have people born and raised here who go on to do great things.”

Foley said the city’s top priority is ensuring and improving public safety. Police and fire staffing has increased in recent months, she said, and additional programs and resources are coming online.

The in-progress reconstruction of the city fire station on Royal Palm Drive will provide a larger, more modern home for firefighters, she said.

“If the community is safe, your businesses are safe and our residents are safe,” Foley told the crowd.

Another major focus is to make sure Costa Mesa lives up to its official motto, “City of the Arts,” Foley said.

Along with developing additional programs and events — such as Action Arts in the Park and the Art on the Fifth gallery in City Hall — Costa Mesa is embarking on an arts master plan, she said.

Perhaps the biggest capital project currently in the works is the redevelopment of Lions Park, the centerpiece of which is a new 22,860-square-foot library.

“We are going to transform that area of town,” Foley said.

Costa Mesa is not without its challenges. Like many communities throughout Orange County, the city has struggled in recent years with the issue of homelessness.

Foley praised the local Network for Homeless Solutions, which is tasked with contacting and assisting homeless people. The network is made up of city staff, volunteers, churches, nonprofits and private organizations.

“They are amazing and they’re doing good work for all of us,” she said.

A particular challenge in Costa Mesa, Foley said, is that homelessness is fueled partly by evictions from local sober-living homes, which generally house recovering drug addicts and alcoholics.

“What we’re finding in Costa Mesa is a lot of people are being kicked to the curb from some of the bad-operator rehab homes,” she said. “They are not only suffering with substance abuse, but now they’re homeless.”

Complicating matters further, Foley said, is that many sober-living residents are originally from other states, making it difficult for them to get back home if they’re evicted.

Costa Mesa ordinances require some sober-living homes to obtain permits to remain open. Most permit applications that have been reviewed by the Planning Commission have been denied, though they are subject to appeal to the City Council.

Foley said she believes Costa Mesa has “the strongest ordinance in the county” regarding group and sober-living homes, with rules requiring operators to notify a resident’s contact person of record before he or she is involuntarily discharged; contact the city and county to see what services might be available for that person; and make transportation available either to a permanent address or another facility.

“We want to make sure that those that are good operators are allowed to provide the services that people need,” Foley said. “But we are not going to tolerate operators in our city any longer who treat their patients with a lack of dignity and cause such enormous impacts on our community.”

Looking ahead, Foley said the city will work with the business community to navigate the effects of recently passed local initiatives like Measure Y, which requires city voter approval for building projects that meet certain criteria.

“We don’t want to halt progress, and I don’t believe that the residents want to halt progress,” she told the crowd. “We just want progress and development in our communities to be thoughtful, well-planned and compatible.”

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