County tabs two lots as new fire station site

Deirdre Newman

The county gave its blessing Tuesday to Newport Beach’s preferred

spot for a Santa Ana Heights fire station.

The Board of Supervisors unanimously approved changing an

agreement it has with the city to make the sites of 1971 Mesa Drive

and 20401 Acacia St. the location for a fire station to serve Santa

Ana Heights and the surrounding region. The original agreement

contained two potential properties for the fire station -- neither of

which worked out, City Manager Homer Bludau said.

The county’s decision means the city can now get started on

designing the station, which will include a training facility. The

City Council approved an agreement with RRM Design Group Tuesday

evening.

“It’s pretty exciting for us to find some place where we can meet

our needs that’s as compatible as it is,” Newport Beach Fire Chief

Tim Riley said. “It really will be a good fit in that area, since

it’s predominantly zoned [as a] business park, and this is the last

residential parcel in that area.”

Those last residents are not thrilled about relinquishing their

property, however, since the city will be able to obtain it from them

through eminent domain by paying them fair market value. Alva and

Mary Davis have lived on the Mesa Drive property for 33 years.

“We’ve lived here a long time and knew something was coming, so we

can’t be too surprised, but I wish someone else could be singled out

and pushed off [their property],” Mary Davis said.

Their daughter, Laurie Murray, owns the Acacia Street property but

doesn’t live there, Mary Davis said. The tenants who live in a small

unit and the main house on that property will also be displaced.

The city has reached a settlement with both property owners, said

Doug Evertz of Straddling, Yocca, Carlson & Rauth, the city’s outside

counsel for this project.

The city has offered about $4.1 million for the two properties,

Bludau said. It is now up to an Orange County Superior Court judge to

decide if that is fair market value, Evertz added. The paperwork for

the offer was submitted to the court earlier this week.

It will tentatively cost the city about an additional $4 million

to build the fire station, Bludau said.

The agreement with the county, approved in 2003, calls for the

county to use $4.1 million of redevelopment funds to acquire and

construct the fire station as well as to provide funding for a

regional recreation facility. The county’s action Tuesday does not

alter the funding part of the agreement.

* DEIRDRE NEWMAN covers government. She may be reached at (949)

574-4221 or by e-mail at [email protected].