Rehearing pushed back

Deirdre Newman

The City Council, acting as the Redevelopment Agency, on Monday

continued the scheduled rehearing on a condominium project at 1901

Newport because of uncertainty about a lawsuit filed by Rutter

Development.

The council also opted not to take public comment because of the

emotions of the people of the room.

“It’s not prudent for the city to take action because emotions are

running very high because of the lawsuit,” Councilwoman Libby Cowan

said. “I don’t think it’s good to take public comment in that

environment.”

Rutter Development filed the suit against the city and Costa Mesa

Citizens for Responsible Growth on Friday afternoon, claiming the

rehearing that was on today’s council agenda had been granted

illegally.

Robin Leffler, spokeswoman for the citizens’ group, said she was

disappointed that opponents were denied public comment for the second

meeting in a row.

David Eadie, president of Rutter Development, said he thought the

council made a wise decision to take more time to evaluate the

lawsuit.

The council decided to continue the issue based on advice acting

City Atty. Tom Wood gave during a closed session.

While that session was going on, conversations laced with

disbelief about the lawsuit spread through the aisles of the main

chambers, outside and even into the restroom.

Project opponents railed against Eadie for trying to curtail the

citizens’ group’s right to free speech.

“It sounds like he’s poisoned the well,” resident David Stiller

said. “Now he’s created an image that’s negative, counterproductive

and hardly sympathetic. I think it will be a long time before anyone

forgets this.”

The lawsuit had nothing to do with freedom of speech, Eadie said.

“We’re just preserving our legal rights,” Eadie said. “We can’t

seem to get closure. Even if the council were to approve the project,

who knows what challenges will occur.”

The motion to continue the rehearing was approved 3 to 2, with

Councilmen Allan Mansoor and Chris Steel dissenting.

* DEIRDRE NEWMAN covers Costa Mesa and may be reached at (949)

574-4221 or by e-mail at [email protected].