Commentary: Growth initiative could put financial pressure on Costa Mesa

I have read several Forum letters and articles in the Daily Pilot that addressed Costa Mesa’s citizen proposed slow-growth development initiative. In addition, I attended the March 15 Costa Mesa City Council meeting in which I was concerned to hear that many of the people who support the initiative — which is likely to slow the city’s financial growth — also support the police contract and the increases in city expenses that come with it.

I support the police contract, but I have my doubts about the proposed initiative which, if approved, could be in place forever, regardless of the city’s future financial or development needs.

To put the financial aspect in perspective, for additional monies spent on salaries, or lawsuits and elections resulting from the initiative, the city’s businesses may need to increase taxable sales. This is because the city only gets 1 cent of the taxes for every taxable dollar spent in Costa Mesa.

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Generally, in order to increase sales, growth (housing/residents/customers) is needed. However, according to the U.S. Census Bureau, Costa Mesa’s population has only grown 2.8% from 2010 to 2015. I don’t think we want the initiative to further slow population growth and the potential financial growth.

Because the slow-growth initiative could have long term negative effects on the city’s finances, and its ability to pay for public safety along with the other expenses, it needs strong justification. As a result, before analyzing the initiative’s provisions, I checked the justifications below that are on the first page of the initiative.

“(a) Environmental quality in Costa Mesa … is … impacted by excessive development, which causes severe traffic congestion … as well as air, noise and water pollution;”

This implies that air quality has been affected by recent development. However, because no references were provided, I reviewed each of the 2008 to 2014 (latest available) South Coast Air Quality Management District reports for North Coastal Orange County (area 18), which includes Costa Mesa. I found no clear trend toward air quality degradation since 2008.

“(b) Costa Mesa’s traffic circulation system is already over-saturated. Several intersections … are inadequate to support existing development;”

According to the detailed April 14, 2015 Planning Commission Agenda Report on the 2015 Development Phasing and Performance Monitoring Program, there is no major intersection in Costa Mesa that is oversaturated. As confirmation of this, according to the city’s Transportation Services, there is only one intersection (Hyland and MacArthur) currently below the required intersection capacity utilization (ICU), but still not over-saturated, and they have an improvement project that will start soon.

Lastly, a large amount of our city’s traffic is caused by traffic just passing through Costa Mesa and not generated by residents. This means that we could slow our development and financial growth and still not significantly reduce traffic.

I continue to have my doubts about the slow-growth initiative because of the weak and exaggerated justifications, and because it is likely to negatively impact the city’s finances.

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CHARLES MOONEY lives in Costa Mesa.