Newport literally crosses the line

In life there are boundaries. Space that must be respected. Lines

that just shouldn’t be crossed.

And Costa Mesa officials are now telling their colleagues in

Newport Beach to back away from the line.

That’s because Newport Beach has taken preliminary steps to annex

an area that includes Santa Ana Country Club, West Santa Ana Heights

and the mostly residential area south of Mesa Drive between Santa Ana

and Irvine avenues, portions of which fall within the boundaries of

Costa Mesa. Newport officials have said they plan to file a formal

request for annexation with the Local Agency Formation Commission in

March.

For the most part, the area that Newport is trying to grab is

unincorporated county land that forms random islands in the middle of

both cities. Costa Mesa was told by the county to clean up these

little land masses by taking control of them and so filed in 2001 to

annex the land. Residents, who had hoped that Newport Beach would

take them under its posh wing; complete with higher property values,

banded together to block annexation to Costa Mesa.

Enter Newport Beach.

Knowing residents in the Santa Ana Heights area were eager to come

to the beach city, Newport officials moved quickly to annex East

Santa Ana Heights and now have their sights set on the rest of the

288-acre area. An area that comes with $30 million for a

redevelopment project, as part of a massive plan that if it came to

pass would have Newport Beach controlling not only Santa Ana Heights,

but the Coyote Canyon Landfill, the Harbor Patrol and John Wayne

Airport.

The problem is that Costa Mesa officials are now saying the

western end of Santa Ana Heights, including the country club, is not

up for grabs, especially not those areas that are already part of the

city.

And Costa Mesa officials are not taking this lying down. If there

was bad blood over Newport’s contentious attempt to keep the bridge

at 19th Street alive, this may be worse down the road. Costa Mesa

officials are indicating that they will continue to defend the city’s

boundaries

There is much talk about a sense of the Newport-Mesa community;

working together for the common good; finding ideas that are mutually

beneficial.

With that in mind, maybe this is a fight Newport Beach officials

should back away from.