Businesses will fight a return to residential zone

Lolita Harper

COSTA MESA -- Business owners from West 19th Street plan to pack City

Council chambers tonight in opposition to a possible rezoning of a small

portion of the street that they say will devalue their property.

Nori Bunasawa, owner of the Judo Journal at 880 W. 19th St., said he

will present the City Council with a petition of about 100 signatures

formally opposing any action by the city to turn what is formally called

the “19th Street Transitional Zone” into a purely residential

neighborhood.

“I don’t see what the city is trying to do,” Bunasawa said. “I cannot

see any type of benefit to the community to change [this area] back into

a residential neighborhood.”

In 1965, a portion of West 19th Street was designated a “transitional

area” in the anticipation of a 19th Street bridge over the Santa Ana

River. At that time, city officials said the bridge would require a

gradual change in the existing properties from low-density residential to

commercial use. The transitional area runs from 854 to 1014 W. 19th St.

-- even numbered properties only -- and 1903 Federal Ave.

As a result of past actions, many businesses that operate out of

houses have cropped up along the busy street, including Maciel’s

Dressmaking, New Ends Studio, CJ Dog Grooming and Cheng’s Acupuncture.

The businesses are legal, but some residents and the Planning

Commission have expressed an interest in returning the residential feel

to the street now that the city is in the process of removing the bridge

from official plans.

Bunasawa and his fellow business owners in the area scoff at the idea

of West 19th Street being considered as a family neighborhood.

“Can you imagine me playing football in my front yard while traffic

goes racing by and with commercial businesses right across the street?”

Bunasawa asked. “It doesn’t make any sense.”

Sylvia Branson, a hair stylist and owner of New Ends Studio at 900 W.

19th St., agreed and further argued that her property would lose value

because it would be impossible to market it to a family as a residential

area.

A change to residential zoning would allow existing businesses to

operate legally until the title is transferred, which business owners say

would dissuade potential buyers.

“We face businesses like a boom box installer, two liquor stores, a

bar and a restaurant that stays open until 2 a.m.,” Branson said. “The

only reason we moved here was because we could open a business out of our

home and I could work but stay home and take care of my child.”

If the zoning is returned to residential, potential buyers would not

be able to run businesses and would not have an incentive to buy on W.

19th Street, Branson said.

The issue has already gone before the Planning Commission -- which

overwhelmingly endorsed the change to residential -- and the City

Council. Last month, council members voted to postpone any decision on

the transitional zone until the council, acting as the city’s

Redevelopment Agency, has a chance to examine it during the redevelopment

of the Westside.

Mayor Linda Dixon filed an appeal and was successful in returning it

to the council’s docket by convincing her fellow members that neither

they, nor the public, fully understood the issue.

Her formal appeal, included in a staff report, highlights comments

from resident Harvey Berger, who spoke at the March 11 Planning

Commission meeting. Berger said business owners in the transitional area

were allowed to operate businesses from their homes as a trade-off for

the fact that the area would one day be designated as commercial, as

result of the bridge.

Those who bought property in the transitional zone, especially after

it was known the city would fight for removal of the bridge, should have

fully understood that the zoning may change, Berger’s comments read in

the appeal.

* Lolita Harper covers Costa Mesa. She may be reached at (949)

574-4275 or by e-mail at o7 [email protected] .