Council to consider plans for 17th Street

Stefanie Frith

It all comes down to money.

The Costa Mesa City Council tonight has two options when it comes to

voting on the East 17th Street plans tonight.

The council members can vote for Plan B, with its narrower turn lanes

and bus bays -- between 10 and 10 1/2 feet wide -- and option for a

pedestrian-oriented shopping area, or Plan E, which calls for wider turn

lanes and bus bays -- between 11 and 13 feet wide.

The difference, besides a matter of a couple of feet, is that if Plan

E goes through, the city will, most likely, still be eligible to receive

Measure M money, said Mayor Libby Cowan.

Approved by Orange County voters in November 1990, Measure M raised

the sales tax by half a cent for countywide transportation improvement

projects. The Orange County Transportation Authority administers the

Measure M sales tax revenue. In 1999, the agency pledged to distribute

close to $4 million in federal grant money if the street is widened to

six lanes.

“Alternative E is not that much different from alternative B,” Cowan

said Sunday. “But we don’t want to be ineligible for Measure M. We don’t

want to lose that money.”

Cowan added that she is interested in hearing what business and

community leaders in Newport Beach have to say about the plans.

Some, like the East 17th Street Merchants Assn. and the majority of

the East 17th Street Ad Hoc Committee, are concerned that if Plan E goes

through, it will only pave the way for the council to later add two lanes

to the street, making it a speedway for drivers to get from Costa Mesa to

the beach.

Others, like Peter Naghavi, transportation services manager for the

city, want to see the street widened. In March, Naghavi said that even if

the business members don’t want six lanes, he does.

For certain council members, though, there are still questions to be

answered.

“I have some questions that will hopefully be answered [at the

meeting],” Councilwoman Linda Dixon said Sunday. “Are six lanes going to

split Costa Mesa? Does Plan E mean that we will [expand the street] at a

later date? How strongly would the approval be affected by funding?”

Councilman Gary Monahan said he still doesn’t know how he is going to

vote at tonight’s meeting, but said what no one wants to admit is that

both plans still only involve four lanes. It’s just that Plan E provides

the opportunity to receive Measure M funding, he said.

“There’s a lot of misinformation out there that [says Plan E] will

tear up parking and more,” Monahan said Sunday. “But the only difference

is where the sidewalks are built. They [the Merchants Assn. and Ad Hoc

Committee] are against six lanes. This is four. The fear that we will

eventually construct six lanes is not realistic. I don’t see that

happening.”