COSTA MESA CITY COUNCIL WRAP-UP

Here are a few items the council considered Tuesday.

TBN FILM PERMIT

The council allowed Trinity Broadcast Network to film outside the network’s Bear Street facility, at least for four days. It’s in some ways a reversal of a 2003 council decision not to give the religious broadcaster a standing permit to film and hold religious activities outdoors, after numerous complaints from neighbors about noise and lights.

The broadcaster asked to film two Christmas specials between Thursday and Monday in the evenings. City staff members said a permit was mistakenly granted for a similar shoot in 2005 and no neighbors complained, and no one showed up Tuesday to protest the new temporary permits. Councilwoman Katrina Foley pointed out that they hadn’t been notified, however.

The council voted, 3-2, to allow the film shoots.

WHAT IT MEANS

Trinity Broadcast Network has permission for two outdoor film shoots that began last week and end Monday. If they want to film in the future, they’ll have to ask for city permission, but the permits are at the discretion of the city manager and won’t need council approval.

OCTA AGREEMENT

After nearly an hour of discussion, the council voted, 3-2, not to sign on to an Orange County Transportation Authority program that would give the city $100,000 to find ways to give residents access to Metrolink trains, which don’t pass through Costa Mesa.

The money would have covered the cost of studying possible shuttle bus lines or other ways to get people from Costa Mesa to Metrolink stations in Orange County. Santa Ana would have been the lead agency in the program, and some council members objected to that.

Some council members compared the Metrolink project to Centerline, a multimilliondollar light rail that was scrapped in 2005 and was widely viewed as a boondoggle.

WHAT IT MEANS

The city won’t do anything at the moment, and staff members will find out more about what other neighboring cities plan to do. Applications for the program are due in January.

WHAT THEY SAID

“I see shades of Centerline rearing its ugly head all over again,” Councilman Eric Bever said. “That’s not a direction I can support.”

Compiled by Alicia Robinson

IF YOU GO

WHAT: Next City Council meeting

WHEN: 6 p.m., Dec. 19

WHERE: Council chambers, City Hall, 77 Fair Drive

INFO: Call (714) 754-5221 or www.ci.costa-mesa.ca.us