Longtime Costa Mesa resident Gordon Bowley was presented the Mayor’s Award on Tuesday March 1 as a way to honor and thank him for his years of service to the community, especially in the areas of youth and high school sports.

Bowley has been actively involved in a number of different community groups and organizations, including the Costa Mesa Chamber of Commerce, the Hoag Hospital Foundation, St. Andrews Church and the YMCA to name a few.

But it has been his work with Costa Mesa United and the Costa Mesa Youth Sports Council where his impact has been felt the most, Mayor Steve Mensinger said as he presented Bowley with the award, which included a key to the city.

Bowley served as both the president of Costa Mesa United and as Chairman of the Youth Sports Council, and he has been an instrumental figure in the growth and success of the Mesa Verde Classic Golf Tournament, which is the largest fund raising event for youth sports in Costa Mesa. This year’s event raised more than $90,000.

“For your years of service to this community, and your outstanding leadership, it is my honor and privilege to present you with the Mayor’s Award,” Mensinger said.

January was a month of achievement and celebration for the Costa Mesa Police Department with several new hires and promotions.

In addition to four new officers joining the department, on Jan. 21 the CMPD welcomed home Park Ranger Lorna Lyttle who had been deployed to Bagram, Afghanistan as a member of the U.S. Army Reserves.

Lyttle joined the CMPD Feb. 19, 2006 and worked for the department as a park ranger for four years before her decision to enlist with the U.S. Army Reserve. Her service in the Army Reserves began on May 17, 2010 and she was deployed to Bagram Afghanistan in April of 2014.

“You don’t feel the full affect until you land and realize where you are,” she said.

Lyttle spent a year as a convoy escort protecting and assisting with the move of fuel and U.S. military equipment between bases.

Lyttle is glad to be back, “It was an experience that I will never forget and now that I am home, I am just trying to get back to the daily grind and back to living life as I knew it before I left with a whole lot more gratitude for being a US Citizen.”

When she is not working Lyttle enjoys spending time with her family, relaxing and going for a good drive.

Lyttle’s long term goal is to further her education and promote through the army ranks. She currently holds a sergeant title and hopes to attain rank of an officer.

In the meantime, she is happy to be home and back with the CMPD; her other family.

“They are my other family, you see them every day and spent a lot of time together,” she said.

At the February Meet and Greet last Thursday Feb. 25, City CEO Tom Hatch presented Deputy City Clerk Jessica Mejia with the CEO Leadership Award.

“The City Clerk’s Office is right on the front lines of City Hall,” Hatch said. “We have a great team in that office who help the public with all their requests on a daily basis and Jessica is a big part of that team.”

Mejia has been with the City of Costa Mesa for a year and a half. Prior to coming to Costa Mesa she worked for the cities of San Dimas and Monterey Park.

She graduated from Cal Poly Pomona with a Bachelor’s Degree in English. When she’s not helping manage the City Clerk’s office and marathon council meetings, she is running marathons.

She is an avid runner and over the last two years she has run 28 half marathons, and two full marathons, the L.A. Marathon and the San Francisco Marathon.

Mejia has been very helpful assisting all the new Committee and Commission secretaries on how to prepare agendas, comply with legal requirements and run the meetings.

She serves as a positive role model as she provides guidance, leadership and assistance to the secretaries.

In addition to Mejia, the city paid tribute to 10 newly hired employees as well as 11 who received recent promotions.

To celebrate its soon-to-be-constructed 250-unit luxury appartment building, executives from Legacy Partners joined together with city and business leaders on Thursday Feb. 18 for a mid-morning Groundbreaking Ceremony at the 580 Anton Blvd. South Coast Metro location.

Standing in front of the active construction site complete with bulldozers, Timothy O’Brien, the managing director of Legacy Partners hailed the virtues of this new project and all it stands to offer the residents who will live within walking distance of world-class dining, shopping and entertainment.

“We set out to design something that is timeless, classic and beautiful,” O’Brien said. “This is a fantastic place to develop a project.”

O’Brien, a lifelong Costa Mesa resident who attended Estancia High School, also complimented the city employees who assisted him in getting this project approved,  and he even went as far as calling Costa Mesa’s staff the best in the state.

Costa Mesa Mayor Steve Mensinger and Councilwoman Sandy Genis also attended the event and heaped praise on the project and what it will mean to Costa Mesa.

“This project stands to create tens of thousands of jobs,” Mensinger said.

When complete, the building will yield more than 200,000 square feet of rentable space, which will have luxury amenities and appliances as well as a fully fitted clubhouse, a concierge entry, a dog-wash station, a fitness center with a lake view, a wine bar and much more.

Legacy Partners, a privately held real estate firm based in San Francisco, acquired the former retail center in May of 2015 in a joint venture with Prudential Real Estate Investors. The development is set to complete by fall of 2017.

The urban forest is a cherished resource that provides cleaner air, cooler temperatures, enhances public health and creates vibrant lively neighborhoods. As the climate becomes warmer and drier, saving our existing tree canopy and planting new trees is wise. Click here for tips for tree care during the drought. Click here for additional information.

Several 40-yard dumpsters sit along the north and east walls of the City of Costa Mesa Corporation Yard.

Some bins hold green waste such as branches, flowers, grass and leaves; others contain appliances, also known as “white goods.”

But one particular bin is filled to the brim with unwanted furniture, toys, and other household items that have been illegally dumped in alleys, parks, and other areas in the public right-of-way and collected by the city’s maintenance services staff.

The haul is in response to residents who are leaving behind items that ultimately are taxing city resources and staff who have to retrieve the items and keep them from accumulating on public property.

“We have one full-time senior maintenance worker and one part-time maintenance assistance assigned to pick up illegally dumped items five days a week and on-call for special needs or emergency situations,” says Maintenance Services Manager Bruce Hartley.  “It takes strict commitment to keep the city streets clean.”

Dumping like this happens daily and citywide but is most prevalent around the 1^st and 15^th of the month when residents are moving and rental leases are expiring.

Staff members drive around town in a two-ton dump truck to collect items and fill a 40-yard dumpster measuring 8-feet wide by 6-feet tall by 20-feet deep every one to two days.

The City of Costa Mesa contracts with Ware Disposal Co., Inc. for hauling and disposal of all waste collected by the staff. Furniture and daily park trash are hauled once a week while green waste is hauled monthly. Appliances are retrieved every other month.

Shopping carts retrieved by staff are returned to the owners, and carts containing personal property are inventoried by Costa Mesa police personnel.

Alleys most affected by illegal dumping are located in the southwest area and predominantly in high-density residential neighborhoods.

Staff has seen a recent increase in property being left in the public right-of-way. However, there are multiple options available to residents for disposing or donating unwanted goods.

The Costa Mesa Sanitary District is responsible for waste collection and transferring recyclable materials for single-family residences in the city.

Through CMSD’s contract with CR&R, single-family residences with up to four units are eligible for large item pick-ups three times a year at no cost.

There is a limit of 10 items per call or a combined total of 30 items per calendar year.

Residents may call CR&R Customer Service at (949) 646- 4617 Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. to schedule a large item pick-up.

Residents living in multiple-family units that use dumpsters are not eligible for the program through CR&R and must contact their contracted waste haulers for pick-up of unwanted items. Contact information can be found on dumpsters on by contacting property management.

In addition to disposal, residents are encouraged to donate clean, usable items to local charities.  The following is a list of local organizations that may be interested in your items:

• Fresh Beginnings Ministries (to benefit Costa Mesa homeless residents who have been placed in housing and are in need of furniture and household goods), Pastor Bill Nelson, Fresh Beginning Ministries, bill@freshbeginningsministries.com
• Project Hope Alliance (to benefit Costa Mesa homeless families placed in housing), 1945 Placentia Ave., Suite 202, Costa Mesa, CA 92627, (949) 722-7863
• Salvation Army Family Store and Donation Dropbox, 2126 Harbor Blvd., Costa Mesa, CA, 92627, (949) 642-3636
• Assistance League of Newport-Mesa, 2220 Fairview Rd, Costa Mesa, CA 92627, (949) 645-6929

Council Member Sandra Genis and members of the city staff attended the opening of the 35th Annual USVA Tet Festival this past weekend at the OC Fair and Event Center.

Costa Mesa was once again home the world’s largest Tet Festival, attracting over 60,000 guests to the three-day event.

Featuring culturally enriching attractions, live entertainment, festive games and rides, a variety of ethnic foods, and a spectacular firecrackers show, the festival celebrated the Lunar New Year and the “Year of the Monkey.”

UVSA is a 501(c)3 non-profit, non-partisan, community-based organization founded in 1982 to bring together Vietnamese American youth including students from different colleges and high schools throughout Southern California.

The festival serves as a vehicle to help develop student volunteers in the community to become well-rounded leaders with a strong sense of cultural awareness and civic responsibility to improve their communities.

Over the past 15 years, UVSA’s members have awarded over $1.25 million of festival proceeds as community grants to non-profit organizations across Southern California.

In 2014, the city captured a Measure M2 grant to improve three bus stops located at Harbor Boulevard/Victoria Street, Harbor Boulevard/Wilson Street, and Wilson Street/Harbor Boulevard.

Unique Performance Construction, Inc. has been awarded a contract in the amount of $79,820 to complete the work.

The work to be performed consists of the installation of new bus shelters, bus benches and associated amenities.

Also included is the removal of the existing sidewalk and installation of a new decorative sidewalk.

Coordination with Edison and AT&T has taken place regarding adjustments to their facilities and work is now scheduled to begin.

Construction is anticipated to take approximately one month.

The Costa Mesa City Council wants you to get involved and is seeking residents to serve on the following city committees:

Bikeway and Walkability Committee: This 15-member committee assists with the review, update and implementation of the city’s Master Plan of Bikeways. The committee, which meets monthly, also assists in the evaluation of bikeways and pedestrian pathways in order to make recommendations for their improvement to the City Council. It has three (3) regular member vacancies, for one-year terms. For further information, please contact Raja Sethuraman at (714) 754-5032.

Cultural Arts Committee: This 11-member committee, which meets monthly, works to promote the city’s slogan, “Costa Mesa City of the Arts.” The committee supports local cultural arts programs and brings art awareness to the residents of Costa Mesa by establishing programs, events and initiatives to better help residents access the arts. It has three (3) regular member vacancies and one (1) alternate member vacancy, all for two-year terms. For further information, please contact Justin Martin at (714) 754-5065.

Historical Preservation Committee: This 11-member committee, which meets monthly, serves to maintain, preserve, educate and promote the city’s historical resources. It has five (5) regular member vacancies and two (2) alternate member vacancies, all for two-year terms. For further information, please contact Justin Martin at (714) 754-5065.

Finance Advisory Committee: This 11-member committee, which meets monthly, provides advice to the City Council regarding events and issues that may affect the financial status of the City. It has nine (9) regular member vacancies for two-year terms. For further information, please contact Kathy Ulrich at (714) 754-5243.

Housing and Public Service Grant Committee: This 11-member resident advisory committee, which meets on an as-needed basis, helps to promote community understanding of the community development process and activities funded by the U.S. Housing and Urban Development Department (HUD), and Community Development Block Grants (CDBG). Additionally, the committee rates and ranks applications for CDBG public service grants, ultimately developing funding recommendations for City Council consideration. It has four (4) regular member vacancies, two (2) for two-year terms and two (2) for one-year terms. For further information, please contact Mike Linares at (714) 754-5678.

Pension Oversight Committee: This nine-member committee, which meets monthly, focuses on long-term pension and financial matters as it pertains to the city’s CalPERS retirement, unfunded pension obligations and unfunded medical liabilities. It has one (1) regular member vacancy, for a one-year term. For further information, please contact Ray Hull at (714) 754-5227.

Residents 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; or hand-delivered to the City Clerk’s Office at City Hall, 77 Fair Drive, Costa Mesa.

The deadline is 5 p.m., Friday, Feb. 19, 2016. Appointments are tentatively scheduled for the March 15, 2016 City Council meeting.

For further information regarding committee appointments, please contact the City Clerk’s office at (714) 754-5225 or cityclerk@costamesaca.gov.

Costa Mesa’s Parks and Community Services Department has been chosen for the 2015 California Park & Recreation Society Award of Excellence for Environmental Stewardship for its Ranch Afterschool Program.

The Ranch Afterschool Program’s collaboration with the OC Fair & Event Center, the City of Costa Mesa, and the Newport-Mesa Unified School District, aids in providing a unique after school experience in which students focus on agricultural concepts like gardening, livestock, and leather working.

“The Parks and Community Services Department is honored to receive the California Parks and Recreation Society’s (CPRS) Award of Excellence in Environmental Stewardship, for the Ranch After-School Program,” said Ashley Ocasio, the city’s assistant recreation supervisor. “Children enrolled in this unique program learn first-hand what it means to be a farmer through lessons learned by cultivating farm land, gardening, raising and caring for livestock and creating leather crafts.”

The students have a hands-on experience caring for animals on the Farm which includes: chickens, sheep, pigs, goats, llamas, cattle, and horses. They learn responsible animal care by cleaning stalls, grooming, and exercising the animals.

Additionally, the Farm dedicates land for each student to create and maintain an individual garden. Students’ gardening responsibilities include planting, watering, fertilizing, weeding, inspecting for pests and harvesting their plot.

Agricultural education helps children learn about healthy food choices and teaches them different ways to access fresh fruits and vegetables.  Most importantly, students begin to understand the deep impact agriculture has in their lives past, future and present.

“This free program is a true collaboration and would not be possible without the support of the Orange County Fairgrounds,” Ocasio said.  “This strategic partnership provides many Costa Mesa youth the opportunity to experience an unique after-school program, in which the focus in on agriculture and farming”

The California Park & Recreation Society awards program recognizes outstanding achievement in the areas of facility design, park planning, marketing and communication, and community improvement and programming through demonstrating the principals of resourcefulness, execution, accomplishment and alignment with the parks and recreation mission.

The presentation of awards will take place at the annual Awards Recognition Banquet scheduled for Friday, March 11, 2016 at the Hyatt Regency Long Beach, beginning at 5:30 p.m.

Mayor Steve Mensinger and Mayor Pro Tem Jim Righeimer and members of the city staff attended South Coast Plaza’s opening celebration of the Chinese Lunar New Year on Wednesday Feb. 3 at South Coast Plaza.

Deemed the “Year of the Monkey,” this is the seventh year that South Coast Plaza has chosen to celebrate the event that was headlined by the shopping center’s head of international marketing, Werner Escher.

Also attending from South Coast Plaza were Anton and Sally Segerstrom, David Grant and Debra Gunn-Downing as well as dignitaries from around the county, including county supervisor Lisa Bartlett and Michelle Steel.

The festivities included samplings of traditional Chinese cuisine and formal Chinese dragon dancers.

On Saturday Feb. 6, state officials will hold a public hearing on the future of the Fairview Developmental Center from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. The hearing will take place at the center’s auditorium at 2501 Harbor Blvd.

Click here for the agenda.

City staff will be in attendance at this important meeting, and the City Council voted in October on its recommended uses for this land. The city’s planning staff has conveyed that to state officials verbally and in this letter.

The recommendations are to be incorporated into the city’s General Plan this year.

The city is recommending a mix of residential, open space and institutional uses, complementary to the Costa Mesa Country Club Golf Course and surrounding residential neighborhoods.

The city is also recommending that the maximum residential density for Fairview would be 15 to 25 dwelling units per acre, with a maximum number of 500 residential units for the entire site.

Additional housing units may be built, as long as they meet the density bonus provisions pursuant to state law.

At least 25 percent of the site will be dedicated to open space. The inclusion of institutional uses—such as public and private recreational facilities, sports parks, community centers, public facilities, and other similar uses—are also being recommended.