Students from The Architectural Technology program at Orange Coast College volunteered at Snoopy house this past weekend and provided some much-need assistance with some of the more complex moving pieces associated with Snoopy and the Gang.

The Architectural program offers courses in design, building materials, construction documents, design graphics, and computer-assisted design and drafting and provides students with the discipline and critical thinking skills.

Members of the Costa Mesa Fire & Rescue Honor Guard, which includes Capt. Mike Hurd, Capt. Fred McDowell, Engineer John Brock, and Capt. Chris Coates, along with Fire Chief Dan Stefano and Division Chief Jason Pyle, joined with members from all of the fire agencies in Orange County to pay tribute and honor the fire service members who passed away in 2017.

The Costa Mesa fire family honored former firefighters Scott Coykendall, Paul Durham and Archie Y. Locke.

The annual memorial event usually takes place each year in October at the Orange County Fire Service Memorial in Santa Ana, but this year it was rescheduled later because of the wildfires.

Mayor Sandy Genis joined city staffers and the city’s consultant biologist Barry Nerhus for a tour of the Fairview Park wetlands on Thursday Nov. 30 to inspect the conditions of the habitat and water flows, and to further investigate the potential for mosquito breeding in the ponds.

The mayor was joined by Public Services Director Raja Sethuraman, Parks and Community Services Director Justin Martin, City Engineer Bart Mejia, Fairview Park Administrator Cynthia D’Agosta and Janet Hauser and Tony Dodero from the City Manager’s Office.

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The group spent the morning observing several things, including the flow of water to the park’s five wetland ponds, local wildlife and habitats, native plants and vegetation, cattail removal efforts and evidence of debris and trash left in the ecosystem by transients.

Some of the wildlife observed by the group were white tail kites, osprey, falcons, turkey vultures, egrets, mallard ducks and other waterfowl. Also observed were northern harriers. The harriers have nested in the trees in the lowlands and there are only about a dozen nesting pairs in all of Orange County.

The total 23-acres of riparian habitat and wetland ponds were officially christened by the city in 2013 and was part of a decades-long plan to restore wetland areas in Fairview Park that was approved in 2003-2005 in the Fairview Park Master Plan.

The project called for restoring the native plant community and habitat, building and grading wetland ponds and streams and installing an irrigation system to assist with the plant and tree growth.

The ponds capture storm runoff and flood control water and are designed to flow at a rate of 350 gallons a minute to be treated naturally and sustain the constructed habitat.

Recently, the ponds have been the subject of questions about how they impact the breeding of mosquitoes. City staff, Nerhus’ crew, and Orange County Vector Control officials test the pond water frequently for mosquitoes. Several abatement measures have been put into place including adding mosquito fish to the pond and clearing cattail that inhibits water flow.

On Thursday, maintenance crews were busy at work clearing the cattails from one of the ponds with a goal of clearing the cattails from all the ponds prior to the next nesting season.

Public Services maintenance staff performed roof repairs and completed a window film replacement project at the Mesa Verde Branch Library over the Thanksgiving holiday closure.

The roof repairs addressed the deteriorating metal edge around the facility’s perimeter and provided preventative maintenance to the existing roof.

The window film replacement project removed a variety of different types of existing window film tints that presented an overall miss matched interior and exterior. The library’s windows were then applied with an energy efficient window film tint that provides an overall aesthetic and functional improvement to the library. Both projects occurred simultaneously and were completed during the holiday closure.

The city of Costa Mesa and the Costa Mesa Military Affairs Team are currently seeking donations of new, unwrapped toys for the children of the city’s adopted 1^st Battalion 5^th Marine Regiment.

The collected toys will be given to the children at the Marine unit’s annual Christmas Carnival held at Camp Pendleton.

Donations can be dropped off at City Hall in the foot locker located in the first floor lobby until Friday, Dec. 8, 2017.

Since the 1/5 Marines are deployed and will not be able to celebrate Christmas with their families, the Christmas Carnival will help make the holiday season a little more festive for the children.

Children range in ages from newborn infants to teenagers. Donations of age appropriate educational toys, games, puzzles and books will be greatly appreciated. Suggestions for donations include:

• Ages 0 – 7 – Stuffed animals, dolls and accessories, action figures, outdoor toys
• Ages 8 and above – Sporting equipment, Legos, arts and crafts, hair accessories, baseball caps

For single male and female Marines, stockings are being requested and stocking stuffer donations including items such as:

1. Gift Cards
2. Toiletries
3. Socks
4. Video Games
5. Goodie Bags

For further information, please contact Assistant to the City Manager Dan Baker at (714) 754-5156.

As construction begins on the new Arlington Drive Improvement Project, Public Services announced that grading, roadway and storm drain construction is scheduled to start on Monday, Nov. 27, 2017, through March 15, 2018, closing the south half of Arlington Drive from Gate 5 at the OC Fairgrounds/west end of TeWinkle Park to Newport Boulevard.

Only westbound traffic will be allowed in this area, but two-way traffic on Arlington Drive between Fairview Road and Davis Magnet School will be maintained.

Residents are asked to please take a detour around the project site and use alternate routes for eastbound travel. City staff appreciates the public’s patience and cooperation while the project is under construction.

The city has contracted with Sully-Miller Contracting Company to construct the Arlington Drive Improvements Project, which includes roadway improvements, new concrete multipurpose trail along the south side of Arlington Drive, new underground storm drain system, vegetated bioswale, and roadside beautification including new landscaping and water efficient irrigation systems.

One of the City Council’s top priorities is to develop strategies to foster safer neighborhoods in our community.

It is well-understood that neighborhood blight creates a perception for residents that they have no control over their neighborhood and that it has become unsafe.

In line with the City Council’s goals, Development Services’ Community Improvement Division (CID) has developed a strategy in which its staff partners with local resident groups to help reverse this perception through education and a hands on approach.

On Saturday, Nov. 11, Community Improvement staff joined approximately 75-100 residents of the Fillmore-Coolidge neighborhood and hosted a community clean-up event. The Community Improvement staff worked side-by-side with residents cleaning up discarded materials in the public rights-of-way and identified blighted conditions.

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In addition, Community Improvement staff setup an information booth manned by the area code officer, Heidi Jacinto, who emphasized the importance of her role as the code enforcement officer in the community and the usefulness of the Costa Mesa Connect App.

Specifically, Jacinto’s goal was to empower residents to take control of their neighborhood by reporting those activities which create blight such as illegal dumping and or deteriorated conditions.

The event was a huge success. Residents expressed gratitude and a feeling that they were not alone in their concerns for a better, safer neighborhood. Several indicated they felt more connected as a community through the event and that they were happy to put a friendly face on City government.

Huge thanks go out to the City’s Parks and Community Services Department, whose mobile recreation van was onsite providing activities for the kids while parents helped during the clean-up, as well as to Ware Disposal, who provided two 40-cubic-yard containers that were full by the end of the event.

Finally, a huge thank you to our local Chick-fil-A restaurant for hosting lunch. Thank you all for partnering together to make Costa Mesa a safer place.

The Costa Mesa City Council is currently seeking residents and business owners to serve on the Animal Services Committee.

Animal Services Committee:

This newly created committee will meet every other month and will provide the City with recommendations to improve animal care services throughout the city, including animal shelter services and bark park amenities.

Currently there are seven (7) regular member vacancies and two (2) alternate member vacancies.  Five of the applicants must be Costa Mesa residents. Two of the members must have special expertise in animal care, but do not need to be residents.  This is an unpaid volunteer position.  For further information, please contact City Clerk Brenda Green at (714) 754-5225.

Application Process – Residents and business owners who are interested in getting involved in local government are encouraged to complete a Committee Application Form from the City Clerk’s Office or from the City’s website (www.costamesaca.gov/apply).

The completed application may be submitted online; mailed to Costa Mesa City Clerk at Post Office Box 1200, Costa Mesa, California, 92628-1200; faxed to (714) 754-4942; emailed to cityclerk@costamesaca.gov; or hand-delivered to the City Clerk’s Office at City Hall, 77 Fair Drive, Costa Mesa.

The deadline is 5 p.m., Wednesday, Dec. 13, 2017. Appointments are tentatively scheduled for the Jan. 16, 2018 City Council meeting.

Public Services recently began the process of upgrading the coyote warning signs citywide at 75 locations.

The old green sign had excessive text in a small font that was difficult to read. The new sign has updated information and is easier to read.

The sign will also have an interactive Coyote Cacher web site link. The Coyote Cacher program is part of a research project with the University of California Irvine Cooperative Extension that aims to collect data on coyote encounters across California.

Click here to access the Coyote Cacher.

The Coyote Cacher is a quick and convenient way for residents and park patrons to report coyote sightings in their neighborhoods.

Drill Exploration Activities for the I-405 Improvement Project will occur intermittently throughout the project area the week of Nov. 6 to Nov. 9 and the week of Nov. 13 to Nov. 17.

In an effort to make travel easier for motorists this Veterans Day holiday weekend, pre-construction activities will be suspended on Friday, Nov. 10, 2017 and will resume, Monday, Nov. 13, 2017.

Drilling exploration, nest avoidance and ADL sampling activities will be conducted at night, between 9 p.m. to 5 a.m. and during the day, between 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.

Drill exploration is performed to obtain information on the soil and rock around a site in order to design structures. Crews will be on the northbound (NB) and southbound (SB) shoulders, and on- and off-ramps of the I-405 freeway, as well as on local streets.

Nest avoidance is performed prior to the start of construction to prevent birds and bats from nesting inside structures. ADL sampling is performed to obtain information on soil on the NB and SB shoulders of the I-405 freeway. Samples are obtained to measure toxicity as a part of dust control measures.

Please be advised that this work may be loud, and dates are subject to change based on inclement weather and other operational factors.

In Costa Mesa, work is planned for the following times and place:

• NB I-405 HOV and #1 lane from MacArthur Boulevard to SR-73

The city has added a new link to a Long Beach Airport web page that monitors and tracks air traffic from multiple airports throughout the region.

A link to the web page is located on the Airport Noise and Concerns page on the city’s website.

The page, which is provided by Long Beach Airport, features a Google map with animation of the aircraft. Web visitors can hover a mouse over the aircraft and learn where it is arriving or departing from and its altitude. Complaints can also be filed using by clicking the Investigate tab at the top left.

Click here to see the page.