NEWPORT BEACH No end on the horizon...

NEWPORT BEACH

No end on the horizon

for former air base

Airport Working Group leaders are considering suing a county

agency to overturn the recent annexation of the El Toro site to the

city of Irvine. Working group members believe that several details of

the annexation warrant reconsideration, especially the fact that a

“habitat area” previously ceded to the Federal Aviation

Administration was included in the land annexed to Irvine.

* Clients of an architect accused of fraud could get some slack on

their homes under construction. Council members on Wednesday agreed

to consider on a case-by-case basis allowing homeowners keep their

homes slightly taller that zoning codes would normally allow rather

than tear them down and start from scratch because incorrect

measurements appeared on their planning department documents.

* The city will chip in another $94,000 to help pay for renovating

Newport Harbor High School’s pool. The city will now pay $250,000 of

the $1-million upgrades.

* Neighbors of the Narcanon residential drug rehab on Balboa

Peninsula hope a recent move by the city will improve noise problems

in their neighborhood. The city will begin looking into ways it might

be able to regulate such businesses and enforce noise and other

zoning rules.

* JUNE CASAGRANDE covers Newport Beach and John Wayne Airport. She

may be reached at (949) 574-4232 or by e-mail at

[email protected].

PUBLIC SAFETY

Man who died in trash bin

leaves friends, police baffled

A 25-year-old man, who reportedly attempted to rob and carjack a

woman in the parking lot of a Ralphs supermarket Monday afternoon,

died minutes after diving into a Dumpster at a nearby condominium

complex in an attempt to flee from authorities, police said.

The Orange County Coroner has identified the man as Adam Casler of

Nevada. But the coroner has not yet determined a cause of death. An

autopsy was done, but it was inconclusive, officials said.

Police said the call initially came in as an attempted robbery,

but evolved into a carjacking. Officials almost spent two hours

outside the Dumpster as they waited for a response from Casler.

Paramedics later examined Casler and pronounced him dead.

Officers recovered a handgun from Casler and found blood on the

weapon. The case is being investigated by the Orange County district

attorney and will be sent to the grand jury.

* DEEPA BHARATH covers public safety and courts. She may be

reached at (949) 574-4226 or by e-mail at [email protected].

POLITICS

Supervisor, assemblyman

may play musical chairs

County Supervisor Tom Harman and Assemblyman Jim Silva. Like the

sound of that?

Those titles may be in the future, as Assemblyman Tom Harman and

Supervisor Jim Silva appear on their way to running for each other’s

seats in 2006.

Harman, who is running for reelection to the 67th Assembly

District, has announced that he plans to seek the supervisor’s seat

when he’s termed out of office in 2006. Harman was first elected to

the state Assembly in 2000 and reelected in 2002.

Silva was elected to the Orange County Board of Supervisors in

1994 and reelected in 1998 and in 2002.

* JENNY MARDER is a reporter for Times Community News. She can be

reached at (714) 965-7173 or by e-mail at [email protected].

COSTA MESA

Grocery store pickets have

no intention of backing down

Grocery store pickets rallied at the Vons in Costa Mesa on

Thursday, proving their determination is still strong. This is the

second month of the strike by union grocery workers form Vons,

Pavilions, Ralphs and Albertsons.

* The Santa Ana River Flood Protection Agency brainstormed

strategies to secure funding to complete the Prado Dam project

Thursday since the federal government has only provided $15 million

out of the $24 million requested by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

The dam was built after a flood in 1938, but the Santa Ana River

watershed has experienced so much development that the dam needs to

be improved.

* The Planning Commission approved two options for requiring South

Coast Plaza Town center property owners to improve the aesthetics and

character of the area. One, put forth by planning and redevelopment

staff members, recommends approving the long-awaited Theater and Arts

District Plan, which was required by the development agreements for

the Segerstrom Town Center, Segerstrom Center for the Arts and Two

Town Center.

The other, suggested recently by Planning Commissioner Katrina

Foley, proposes to bypass the plan altogether. Instead, Foley wants

to accomplish similar goals and also provide funding for arts and

music in the Costa Mesa public schools without all the plan’s

bureaucracy. It will now go to the council for review.

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

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