Vacuum store settles lawsuit over plan to replace Costa Mesa Motor Inn with luxury apartments
The owners of a vacuum cleaner and sewing machine shop on Harbor Boulevard have agreed to settle their lawsuit against the city of Costa Mesa and the owner of the Costa Mesa Motor Inn over plans to replace the motel with high-end apartments.
As part of the settlement agreement, Phillip and Karen Luchesi — owners of Pals Vacuum Sewing Center at 2299 Harbor Blvd. — will receive $67,000 from Motor Inn owner Miracle Mile Properties to cover attorneys’ fees and costs.
Costa Mesa will pay nothing, according to a copy of the agreement obtained by the Daily Pilot.
“We are glad that this case has been resolved and at no expense to the city,” said Costa Mesa Chief Executive Tom Hatch.
The lawyer for the Luchesis — Mark Austin of law firm Rutan & Tucker — said that neither he nor his clients would comment about the settlement.
The Luchesis filed the lawsuit in December over city-approved plans to replace the 236-room Motor Inn, located at 2277 Harbor Blvd., with 224 high-end apartments.
In court filings, they alleged the planned apartment complex would interfere with cellphone towers on their property, which is adjacent to the Motor Inn. They contended it would hinder the towers’ transmission abilities and affect the Luchesis’ ability to make economic use of their land.
The settlement agreement states that if any of the five cellphone companies that currently have transmission equipment on the Luchesis’ property elect to terminate or renegotiate their leases, they will be asked why.
If a company says it is because of an adverse effect of the Motor Inn project, the Luchesis will be able to look at modifying or relocating cellphone towers on their property.
A tower even could be moved to the Motor Inn property if needed and agreed to by the Luchesis, the cellphone company and Miracle Mile, the agreement states. In that case, Miracle Mile would be responsible for the costs of relocating or modifying the equipment.
Even with the settlement signed, it’s not yet time to put shovels in the ground at the Motor Inn.
The Kennedy Commission, an affordable-housing advocacy group based in Irvine, has filed a lawsuit against the city and Miracle Mile alleging that the apartment plan violates state law because it doesn’t include low-income units.
Costa Mesa city officials have long derided some local motels — including the Motor Inn, Sandpiper Motel and Vagabond Inn — as blighted and hotbeds for crime, human trafficking, prostitution and drug use.
One option that has been tentatively approved by the City Council and included in the city’s proposed general plan update is a program aimed at enticing motel owners along Harbor and Newport boulevards to redevelop their properties into housing projects by providing them with a development incentive to increase density, which would allow developers to build more units on a property than originally permitted.
Such an incentive was provided as part of the Motor Inn project.
Incentives are only part of the equation, though. Last month, the city filed a public-nuisance complaint aimed at forcing the cleanup or closure of another motel, the New Harbor Inn.
Some local affordable-housing advocates say getting rid of the motels would essentially mean losing a source of affordable housing in Costa Mesa.
