This week’s City Council agenda is somewhat hard to parse because there’s a lot of nonsense in here. Ok, it’s not nonsense, but much of it is boring as all get out. Nothing titillates quite like a perfunctory, Consent-Calendar review of the City’s Conflict of Interest policy, or reading through the City’s strong agreement with the Orange County Grand Jury that the State’s housing mandates have been difficult to deal with (duh). And watching the Council approve the latest sidewalk repair contract is going to be about as exciting as watching those newly poured concrete sidewalks dry in hot Californian sun.

Yes, there is a Consent Calendar item to approve certain agreements related to the so-called Avon River Apartments, formerly the Travelodge, on Bristol, and these Project Homekey issues can get people excited. But this is more of a formality than a comprehensive review; while there are interesting elements to this set of approval (we’re apparently sequencing giving Orange County some credit for creating low-income housing and thus avoid even more ire from State housing authorities), I’m going to skip it for now.

There are bigger fish to fry.

Will we get an update on the State of California’s lawsuit against Costa Mesa for violating state housing laws?

Before we dive into the rest of the public agenda, it’s worth noting one other thing: the City Council’s closed session agenda includes an update on the State’s lawsuit against the city for violating state housing laws. Sadly, that update will be confidential, so we’ll only get an update if the city manager or the city attorney choose to do a report out.

PACS Commission makes a Council presentation (!), and it comes bearing controversial recommendations

The first item that I suspect will take up more time than folks might expect is a recap presentation to be delivered by Kelly Brown and Shayanne Wright, the Chair and Vice Chair, respectively, of the city’s Parks and Community Services (PACS) Commission.

First, I want to applaud the PACS Commission for gamely slogging through the staff’s process to put this presentation together, which itself is only a fraction of the effort required to produce the voluminous amount of work it describes. About 18 months ago I wrote that the PACS Commission should get its arms around its powers in the municipal code and use them to set its own agenda. It’s done exactly that, in spades, and this presentation will be a satisfying culmination of that transformation. Kudos to the leadership of Ms. Brown and Ms. Wright.

There’s only one, little, tiny fly in the ointment. What is this I spy in the PACS Commission’s presentation slides?

Every time the touchy issue of moving the concerts has come up the Staff has been careful to be as noncommittal as possible (see, for example, this exchange with Council Member Mike Buley last Fall). The concerts were also conspicuously absent from the staff’s consolidated recommendations when the Fairview Park Master Plan Update was last in front of the City Council.

So when I first read the Daily Pilot’s article on the PACS Commission meeting this past June, I nearly fell out of my chair. They can’t be serious, I thought, as I read comments from PACS Commissioners openly discussing moving the concerts to alternative venues like Lions Park or Orange Coast College.

The Concerts in the Park are one of the city’s beloved institutions. Changing the conversation about the pending Fairview Park Master Plan Update from one about the Harbor Soaring Society’s gliders to the Concerts in the Park widens the political aperture significantly and brings in whole new interest groups to oppose the plan. I really don’t know what the PACS Commissioners are thinking here. Maybe we’ll learn more tonight.

Code updates get the nerds (like me) amped up

I got really excited to spill a lot of digital ink about this comprehensive update to the zoning code for commercial properties, but then I realized I had an audience of approximately 6 in the city (that’s being generous) that would read it, so…

I’ll just say this. It’s really cool the City is doing this code clean up even when it has so much else on its plate They will make commercial permitting much easier to obtain. Our code has become so cumbersome that it has certainly contributed to delayed openings — rumor has it that Erewhon’s new location on E. 17th Street has been snagged by this issue — and it has likely cost us new businesses too. I’m particularly pumped for the updates to how the city calculates “floor-area ratio”, or FAR, I think will be especially impactful. Without getting too technical, making this definition clearer and more narrow will allow businesses to tack on a few extra square feet to their plans, which will in turn will make for more tables, more comfortable spaces, and better design all around. So great job, Costa Mesa!

And finally…

We have Public Works gone WILD!

The last two items tonight will deal with areas near and dear to my heart: leading pedestrian intervals (LPIs) and concrete protected bike lanes (!).

What people might not appreciate about the city’s green-paint-a-palooza that it’s been enjoying for the last 4-5 years is that progress has been absolutely break-neck, at least compared to other Public Works programs. This department has churned out project after project for years. What is awesome about that is that is that a brisk pace gives our staff lots of reps, which in turn creates more experienced staff.

And, to me, they continue to impress. Yes, I get it: signal synchronization projects are not the most exciting things in the world. This one happens to be upgrading the traffic light hardware that coordinates the timing between red, yellow and green cycles, as well as allowing for emergency vehicle overrides. This ensures that our fire trucks, police cars and ambulances all get green lights all the way to their destinations.

And damn, this one is amazing. We’re adding LPIs at 44 intersections, installing countdown pedestrian signals at 43 intersections, and installing emergency vehicle preemption devices at 28 intersections. That’s insane improvement. LPIs, for the uninitiated, time the lights to allow pedestrians and (in California) bicyclists to get a walk signal a few seconds before the cars going in the same direction get a green light, allowing those on foot or on bike to get well into the crosswalk before cars start to turn right or left during the green cycle. Even Secretary of Transportation Sean “Bike Lanes Are DEI Communist Plots” Duffy’s Federal Highway Administration agrees that LPIs cut pedestrian-vehicle collisions by 13%.

Speaking of DEI communist plots, we also get to hear about the Adams Avenue bicycle project, which added concrete-protected bicycle lanes basically on the fly:

Now, the point of the item is that the project is a touch over budget (about $65,000 in the red compared to an overall budget of almost $2.3 million). The staff is a bit coy about the extent to which the decision to spring for concrete-protected bike lanes contributed to the cost overrun, and they do provide a number of other potential culprits that came up during construction. Admittedly, it is kinda, hmm, bold to pour the concrete separators first and then ask the City Council to go back and pay for them later.

But honestly, just give them their flowers. This Public Works team has pumped out project after project that has won all the awards and put Costa Mesa on the map as a leader in active transportation. Even the bike lane curmudgeons have to see that keeping the flywheel of constant road improvement going is absolutely critical. Otherwise, you really might LA our Costa Mesa.