Do you want to relocate your business to Costa Mesa? Are you ready to make that step from home business to a brick and mortar location? Is your business doing so well you need to transition to a larger space but do not want to leave the fantastic atmosphere and amenities of Costa Mesa?

The city has developed a new and improved webpage to help with site selection. Using the webpage’s tools, you can search for properties for sale or tenant spaces/buildings for lease within the city. Using these tools, you will be able to filter by property type, price range, square-footage, agent name, and any other keyword of your choosing.

City staff believes the webpage will be a great tool to help our entire business community, to find the perfect location for their business.

Click here to find the webpage. It resides within the Economic Development section of the city website.

To provide feedback, please contact Dan Inloes at daniel.inloes@costamesaca.gov or at 714.754.5088 with any comments or suggestions.

The Bikeway and Walkability Committee was established by City Council in 2015 and meets regularly on the first Wednesday of every month at 6:30 p.m.

The Committee is helping to implement a robust Active Transportation network for the City by improving bicycle and pedestrian connectivity. The mission of this committee is to:

• Focus on the review and update of the City’s Active Transportation Plan and improvements to be made to bikeways and pedestrian facilities in the City; and
• Evaluate the bikeability and walkability of our City in order to make recommendations for improvement to the City Council.

The Bikeway and Walkability Committee and the Public Services Department are partnering to develop solutions to many pedestrian and bicycling challenges and activities which include the following:

• Community outreach
• pedestrian and bicycle safety education
• National Walk to School Day annually in October
• National Bike Month in May (the City of Costa Mesa has the highest percentage of residents that commute to work via bicycling compared to all neighboring cities.)
• Walk audits
• Grant applications and Award/Certification Level applications

For additional information about the Committee, please select the following link: https://www.costamesaca.gov/city-hall/commissions-and-committees/bikeway-walkability-committee.  The Committee website includes a link to webinars on walkability hosted by America Walks: http://americawalks.org/.

The city’s move to the new Newport Center Animal Hospital for shelter services has so far yielded favorable results and improved customer service.

As part of this new operation, the city has also partnered with Priceless Pet Rescue to handle pet adoptions because Newport Center Animal Hospital is currently not set up to do adoptions.

City staff facilitated the first pet adoption out of the shelter through the no-kill Priceless Pet Rescue. Jack the schnauzer mix was adopted by Danielle Rudd, pictured above on the right.

“Already Jack is fitting in perfectly and is loving going to the park for walks and getting tons of cuddles,” Rudd said. “Words cannot express how thankful I am to welcome Jack in my life. Thank you from the bottom of my heart for working tirelessly to ensure she was placed in an awesome home with me and my mom.”

Residents interested in adopting pets can visit this page for more information

As part of the I-405 Improvement Project, OCTA announced that beginning Monday Oct. 9, construction work will take place from 9 p.m. to 5 a.m. at the following locations:

• NB I-405 HOV inside lane from MacArthur Boulevard to SR-73
• NB I-405 merge lane from Bristol Street to South Coast Drive
• SB I-405 / SR-73 connector to Bear Street
• SB I-405 near Harbor Boulevard to Fairview Road
• Fairview Road bridge
• Harbor Boulevard bridge

OCTA in cooperation with The California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) is widening the San Diego Freeway (I-405) between State Route 73 (SR-73) and Interstate 605 (I-605). The project will improve 16 miles of I-405 between the SR-73 freeway in Costa Mesa and I-605 near the L.A. County line.

In conjunction with the 10-year Master Site Plan, OC Fair & Event Center will be launching a Strategic 5-Year Business Plan to develop our organizational goals.

Fair & Event Center officials will be seeking input at two open community discussions on how the OC Fair & Event Center can further support its mission of developing programs focused on community, education and agriculture.

If you’re an interested neighbor, educator, member of the agricultural community, non-profit leader or business associate, your input is appreciated.

Join OC Fair & Event Center officials on the following dates:

• Wednesday, Oct. 18 from 2:30-4:30 p.m. or Thursday, Oct. 19 from 7-9:30 p.m.

RSVPs are not required. If you’re unable to attend but would like to provide input, please email your thoughts and ideas to CommDept@ocfair.com.

The City of Costa Mesa received excellent financial news this week as its credit ratings with Standard & Poor’s jumped from AA to AA+, the highest possible rating issued by the financial services company for this type of financing.

The new improved ratings were issued in a report that came out today. This upgraded rating is the direct result of significant research by Standard & Poor’s during many meetings and discussions with Costa Mesa administrative and finance staff to analyze the city’s financial procedures and practices.

The high rating will allow the city to get the best rate possible for the sale of bonds that will be used to complete the Lions Park Projects.

“This is great news for the city and this AA+ rating assures the taxpayers of Costa Mesa that we will be able to complete the Lions Park projects with lower financing costs,” Mayor Katrina Foley said. “Congratulations to the current and former city councils, city staff and the Finance and Pension Advisory Committee for the prudent fiscal policies and management that helped us achieve this accomplishment.”

The Standard & Poor’s report also credited the effort to responsibly manage city reserves and debt. Indeed, Standard & Poor’s report cited several reasons for this top rating.

Click here to see the full report.

According to Standard & Poor’s, the following findings played into the rating being raised to the top level.

• Very strong economy, with access to a broad and diverse metropolitan statistical area (MSA);
• Very strong management, with strong financial policies and practices under our Financial Management Assessment (FMA) methodology;
• Strong budgetary performance, with operating surpluses in the general fund and at the total governmental fund level in fiscal 2016;
• Very strong budgetary flexibility, with an available fund balance in fiscal 2016 of 54% of operating expenditures;
• Very strong liquidity, with total government available cash at 81.8% of total governmental fund expenditures and 26.4x governmental debt service, and access to external liquidity we consider strong;
• Strong debt and contingent liability position, with debt service carrying charges at 3.1% of expenditures and net direct debt that is 21.9% of total governmental fund revenue, as well as low overall net debt at less than 3% of market value, but a large pension and other postemployment benefit (OPEB) obligation; and
• Strong institutional framework score.

Every 10 years, the City has the opportunity to provide updated address and map data to the U.S. Census Bureau in preparation for the decennial U.S. Census.

The draft data for the 2020 Census will be distributed to planning staff for review.

The Local Update of Census Addresses, or LUCA, is the only opportunity offered to review and comment for our jurisdiction prior to the 2020 Census. The Census Bureau relies on a complete and accurate address list to reach every living quarters and associated population for inclusion in the census.

Since accurate address count is essential to ensure an accurate census count for Costa Mesa; city staff will be diligent to provide updated data. The data will be provided in form of Customized Geographic Information System (GIS) software, which will be easy to update and minimize inaccuracies.

Actively participating in the Census and providing accurate information is important since the Census count is the base for all population estimates for the next 10 years. The count determines the apportionment of political representation, and determines the distribution of federal and state dollars.

At a recent Energy Partnership meeting, the City of Costa Mesa received its award for reaching Silver Status within the partnership.

The Partnership, formed in 2010, currently consists of the cities of Costa Mesa, Fountain Valley, Newport Beach, Westminster, Santa Ana, Huntington Beach, and Irvine.

Staff representatives meet monthly to discuss long-range energy efficiency goals and projects that are relevant to each city.  Costa Mesa recently completed the direct install program sponsored by Southern California Edison.

The program allowed for all City facilities, with the exception of the City Hall campus, to receive lighting upgrades at no cost, thus saving Costa Mesa approximately $60,000 in onetime general fund expenditures.

Assistant to the City Manager Dan Baker is the liaison to this committee and is always interested in projects that seek energy efficiency.

The fields that the Los Angeles Chargers football team will use for Summer 2017 Training Camp are undergoing final preparation before lush sod can be laid at the site.

Phase I construction included extensive grounds preparation as a means to support the highest quality sports turf available.  The Chargers will be releasing an official Summer Training Camp schedule soon.

The camp, which will be free and open to the public for viewing is scheduled to begin in late July.

The City continues to provide important economic information to the community and to potential investors in Costa Mesa.

The Community Economic Profile provides up to date information in a variety of categories, emphasizing the City’s strategic location, strong socio-economic indicators, temperate climate, and it also provides valuable contact information for important services.

A second handout, the Costa Mesa Advantage brochure, conveys the City’s vision for Costa Mesa. These handouts help to persuade businesses to establish here, attract investment to Costa Mesa and equip residents with reliable information about their community.

The Public Services Department is implementing traffic-calming improvements along East 19th Street between Church Street and Irvine Avenue.  The improvements include concrete curb bulb-outs, street paving and landscape/Irrigation work.

The concrete curbs on the north side of East 19th Street were completed, and the installation of irrigation sleeves at most of the intersections have been nearly completed.  The concrete sidewalks will be constructed along the north side starting Monday, May 15.  The next phase of work will include the construction of the curb bulb-outs on the south side of East 19th Street and paving. This work will start on Wednesday May 17.

In order to do this next phase of work expeditiously and safely, all eastbound traffic will be diverted via detours at Fullerton Avenue. The westbound traffic will be allowed on East 19th Street throughout this period. Traffic flow in both directions will resume after this two-week period.  Notice of this closure will be provided to all residents along East 19th Street.