Recommendations

COSTA MESA — The Homeless Task Force (HTF) has created a tentative set of ordinances and services that it will recommend to the City Council early next year. The draft of suggestions were ironed out in a special five-hour meeting Saturday, as well as in the regularly scheduled meeting at the police station Wednesday. Emphasis was placed on the city doing its "fair share" in addressing the Costa Mesa homeless population — a theme the group has revisited in many of its sessions — without taking on the burdens of a regionwide problem.

Costa Mesa’s Parks and Recreation Commission is expected to vote Wednesday to hold meetings on only odd-numbered months. The five-member commission, appointed by the City Council, used to meet every month, but the council decided to cut it back to save money. Dissolving the commission or merging it with another council-appointed committee, the Planning Commission, were also considered. The commission’s main charge is deciding whether to remove trees in front of peoples’ houses when owners complain they’re interfering with underground pipes or tearing up the sidewalks.

Ralph Ronquillo As the Chairman of the Westside Revitalization Oversight Committee, I felt compelled to comment on your recent article regarding the City Council's approval of the modified committee implementation plan as presented by councilman Eric Bever. The modified plan includes an expansion of the Westside Revitalization Oversight Committee's recommendations for a residential overlay zoning designation for properties on the Westside, including properties that are currently zoned for industrial uses.

This is regarding the interview of Judy Franco, president of the Newport-Mesa Unified School District Board of Trustees (Q&A with Judy Franco, "Leading the schools' charge," Feb. 17). I find some of Franco's public relations-laced comments regarding community involvement after the bankruptcy absolutely fascinating to read. Take, for instance, her comments about the community saying, "We're here. We want to help. Let us help. Let us work together. Let us be part of the team."

Adult soccer games and other active group sports should be banned at Paularino Park, and trees and landscaping should be installed to help enforce the prohibition, Costa Mesa's parks and recreation commission decided this week. The move followed a community meeting in early May where residents said they think the park should be for passive use. The parks commission's recommendations must be approved by the City Council. Under the recommendation, signs would be posted at the park to explain what's allowed, and the changes would be reviewed after six months.

Alicia Robinson The committee that wrote a plan to improve Costa Mesa's Westside, which for some residents has stretched into two or three years of work, could officially be put to bed today. The City Council, acting as the Redevelopment Agency, is set to vote this afternoon on whether to dissolve the Westside Revitalization Oversight Committee. After working since mid-2003, the committee in January gave a report suggesting ways to encourage residential development and overall upgrades on the Westside.

Fire authorities’ recommendations to reduce what they characterized as the greatest natural danger in Newport Beach include drastically cutting trees and shrubs in Buck Gully. At a study session Tuesday, Newport Beach Fire Marshal Steve Bunting gave his recommendations that would expand existing codes and would remove about two-thirds of the trees within 100 feet of the back of properties at Buck Gully to meet new standards. Regulations don’t ask for trees to be separated, which is where Bunting says the current code fails.

Deirdre Newman Monday will be a historic day for the Westside. That's the day a group of Westside homeowners, business owners and industrial property owners -- who in the past have been a fractious bunch -- will present its specific recommendations for revitalizing this languishing area of the city. The group, known as the Westside Revitalization Oversight Committee, will present its report, which the 27 members agreed on unanimously, to the Redevelopment Agency -- the City Council acting under a different name.

Alicia Robinson After close to three decades of trying to improve the city's Westside, officials are on the verge of approving a list of new zoning rules and other plans to spur economic development in the area. The City Council will consider a multi-pronged plan that would modify zoning so homes could be built in formerly industrial areas and that would otherwise spruce up the Westside. The plan was developed by the Westside Revitalization Oversight Committee, a group of residents and owners of businesses and industrial properties.

The Coast Community College District may soon put to rest an issue that's drawn threats of political retribution and hours of testimony from union and nonunion activists. A task force has recommended the board of trustees reject crafting an overarching agreement with local unions that would govern how to spend about $700 million earmarked for construction. Trustees will consider that recommendation at 6 p.m. Wednesday in the board room, 1370 Adams Ave., Costa Mesa. The agreement, often called a project labor agreement, or PLA, would pre-negotiate hiring terms with Orange County unions for every infrastructure project funded by Measure M - $698 million of bonds that voters approved in November.

A jury recommended the death penalty Wednesday for a Stanton man who strangled, raped and physically assaulted women around Orange County - including a masseuse in a Costa Mesa motel room - according to prosecutors. FOR THE RECORD: An earlier version of the story incorrectly said the masseuse in Costa Mesa was killed. The same jury found Waymon Livingston, 29, guilty Feb. 27 of one felony count of special-circumstances murder in the commission of sodomy, three felony counts of forcible rape and one felony count of aggravated assault, the Orange County district attorney's office said in a news release.

A report condemning the failed sale of the Orange County Fairgrounds will go to the district attorney's office for legal review. The Fair Board unanimously voted Thursday to send the D.A. the Fair Sale Review Committee's 17-page report, which questioned contracts related to the 2010 proposal to sell and potentially privatize the 150-acre property. The independent committee's report, released last month, had nine principal recommendations that included calling for an audit, more review of the failed transaction, more transparency measures overall and never again undertaking action that would cause the state attorney general to stop representing the state-owned fairgrounds.

Newport-Mesa Unified School District officials are almost done gathering public input on the possibility of assigning each school zone a flagship program that students could focus on throughout their academic careers. Since November, school officials have hosted meetings where they have asked parents, students and teachers if they would like to see specialty programs and what subjects they would prefer. Each zone — Estancia, Costa Mesa, Newport Harbor and Corona del Mar — could potentially pick a signature academic and arts subject offered from elementary school through high school.

Irvine's City Council will decide Tuesday what to do with a $9.3-million surplus from last fiscal year's $136-million budget. Despite projecting a $7-million budget gap for the 2011-12 fiscal year, rollover from previous years' surpluses, $4.7 million of unprotected revenues and $3.8 million of budgeted money left unspent added up to the millions left in city coffers, according to a staff report. A sizable chunk of that came from rebounding sale taxes, which took in $2.6 million more than the city projected.

The proposed 19th Street bridge, a project that has generated contention for years as it has teetered on the edge of existence, may be back on its way to being deleted from the Orange County Transportation Authority's Master Plan of Arterial Highways. The OCTA board's Regional Planning and Highways Committee voted 6 to 1 Monday morning to recommend that the board eliminate the bridge from the plan, OCTA spokesman Joel Zlotnik said. The board is expected to consider the recommendation at its Nov. 26 meeting.

Potentially killing a proposal to add toll lanes to the San Diego (405) Freeway, an Orange County Transportation Authority committee voted this week to recommend a different expansion plan. The Regional Planning and Highways Committee unanimously voted Monday to endorse an alternative that would add one general-purpose lane to both sides of the 405 between the San Gabriel River (605) and the Corona del Mar (73) freeways. The full OCTA board still has to approve the plan. The roadway has been the subject of much debate among city officials and residents opposed to toll lanes.

Recently, one Orange County community was grappling with a complex and thorny subject that touched on all aspects of civic life: public safety, health, parks and recreation, transportation, employment, housing, social equity and governance. To examine and address this wide-ranging topic, the City Council wisely decided to form a committee consisting of local experts, residents, businesses, civic organizations and other community representatives. This committee was charged with the task of establishing realistic strategies and making recommendations that addressed the community's needs.

The Costa Mesa Planning Commission voted this week to appoint a Parks and Recreation commissioner to its vacant seat. Jeff Mathews was recommended with a 3-1 vote Monday, with Commissioner Edward Salcedo dissenting on grounds that he wanted the commission to provide a list of three top candidates. Mathews would replace Jim Fitzpatrick, who resigned in the spring. The City Council will decide whether to approve the Planning Commission's recommendation Aug. 7, City Clerk Brenda Green said.

Newport Beach voters will have the option in November to ban red-light cameras from the city. The City Council voted Tuesday to include a red-light camera prohibition in the list of charter amendments that will come before the electorate this fall. The city has no red-light cameras now. Other cities have banned them amid complaints that they were merely a way to boost city revenue. The vote was the culmination of a months-long charter update process, where a committee sifted through about 40 sections of the city's constitution and recommended changes to the council.