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Newshound (Newshound)
| | Posted on Friday, September 10, 2004 - 8:05 am: | |
Sept. 9-Costa Mesa vows to keep fairgrounds,OC Register
By BRIAN MARTINEZ
The Orange County Register
COSTA MESA – City leaders voted late Tuesday not to rezone the Orange County Fair & Exposition Center – a preemptive stand against state attempts to sell the 150-acre property.
Amid growing public and civic anxiety that Costa Mesa could lose the fairgrounds, the City Council urged residents to lobby state leaders. The city officials also adopted resolutions disagreeing with a state report that described the land as "underutilized" and opposing efforts to close or relocate the fairgrounds.
The rezoning proposal would have allowed residential or commercial development on the land.
Mayor Pro Tem Allan Mansoor publicly accused Irvine of trying to steal the fairgrounds from Costa Mesa: "Almost 80 percent of all regional park, recreation and open space is already located in south Orange County. Now Irvine wants to take our fairgrounds, too."
Mansour was referring to an idea floated by Assemblyman John Campbell, R-Irvine, in April to move the fairgrounds from Costa Mesa to Irvine's planned "Great Park" to help ease the state’s deficit.
Campbell last month backed away from his proposal because of the public outcry.
Irvine Mayor Larry Agran denied Mansoor's accusations.
"We have no efforts under way to bring the fairgrounds to Irvine," he said. "John (Campbell) called me and asked if I had any objections, and I said, ‘No.’ This was his idea."
Thirty people spoke at the council meeting in support of keeping the fairgrounds open and in the same location. No one spoke in favor of the state report’s suggestion to sell the land. Some urged the council to do more than pass resolutions.
"I don’t know what Irvine does to get what it wants, but you need to figure that out and take a stronger stand," resident Susan Gabriel said. "I want to see my council go to bat on this and do a better job than you did on the (proposed El Toro) airport."
The state has the legal ability to overrule the city’s zoning laws, but the likelihood of that occurring is low, Campbell said.
The California Performance Review, which Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger requested, said the fairgrounds could help alleviate Orange County’s affordable-housing shortage and raise about $230 million to help alleviate the state’s defecit if it were developed with 1,000 detached homes.
Costa Mesa officials cited increased traffic, parking and noise problems if the land were rezoned and a need for open space in the city as reasons for retaining the fairgrounds. The city also receives about $600,000 a year in sales-tax revenue from the weekly swap meet and annual county fair vendors.
For years, the city’s zoning of the area has allowed only agricultural or public uses, such as golf courses, parks, churches, or universities.
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