Council puts parking limits on two areas

Deirdre Newman

Residents fed up with people who don’t live in their neighborhoods

parking on their streets and blocking their driveways convinced city

leaders this week to place “resident-only” restrictions in two parts

of the city.

The two areas are around Elm Avenue/Lemon Street and Tanager Drive

near Tanager Park.

On Monday, residents from both areas packed City Hall and cheered

as the City Council unanimously decided in their favor.

Residents contended that the rash of nonresident parking eroded

their quality of life and property values and decreased safety.

Some in the audience saw the city’s decisions as a shift in power

to residents over commercial property owners and landlords.

“Costa Mesa has been a property rights city for 30 years and now

it’s changing to owners and residents,” resident Doug Sutton said.

“How you deal with residents will encourage new residents to either

move in or move away. Residents really believe that neighborhoods are

inviolable.”

The first area that pitted residents against nonresidents is on

Elm Avenue between Royal Palm Drive and Lemon Street, and on Lemon

between Elm and Ponderosa Street.

Officials said most of the culprits were students of Paul Mitchell

Salon and Academy, which is in a nearby shopping center at Adams

Avenue and Harbor Boulevard. After residents complained about

students hogging all the parking in their area and parking illegally,

a city investigation found that cars associated with the school and

with other nearby businesses took up to 80% of the available

residential parking.

In agreeing with residents that parking restrictions were

necessary, city leaders also recommended more parking enforcement in

the area and asked what needs to be done to prevent another scenario

like this in the future.

“I’m so appalled that we have this problem to the degree we have

it,” Mayor Karen Robinson said. “[Illegal parking] should be taken

care of, but the bigger issue is, how did we let it happen so we

don’t let it happen again? We have other projects in the area that

will compound this.”

Winn Claybaugh, co-owner of the school, said the school “supports

whatever we need to do to be a good neighbor.”

The second parking controversy erupted in the area around Tanager

Drive, Starbird Drive, Bluebird Circle and Hummingbird Drive.

Residents there blamed the owner of the Villa Venetia Apartments in

the 2700 block of Mesa Verde Drive East apartment complex for

expanding the number of tenants at the neighbors’ expense.

Carol Owens, the apartments’ property manager, did not return

calls for comment.