Costa Mesa City Council will discuss using Fairview Developmental Center as homeless shelter

Costa Mesa City Council members will hold a special meeting Wednesday to discuss a concept an Orange County supervisor and a state senator unveiled last week for using part of the Fairview Developmental Center property in Costa Mesa as an emergency homeless shelter.

The meeting will start at 5 p.m. at the Costa Mesa Senior Center, 695 W. 19th St. An official agenda had not been released as of late Monday afternoon.

Though a concrete plan hasn’t been announced, Supervisor Shawn Nelson and state Sen. John Moorlach (R-Costa Mesa) floated the idea Friday that the 114-acre, state-owned property at 2501 Harbor Blvd. is an intriguing shelter possibility because it’s centrally located and already has infrastructure that could be used to house and provide services to the homeless.

“If we can find a campus to address a significant need in this county that we can rally around, then this is one of those opportunities that we just don’t want to let pass by,” Moorlach said in an interview Friday.

For weeks, county leaders have been grappling with how to house hundreds of homeless people who were recently evicted from encampments along the Santa Ana River. The move to clear those camps prompted homeless advocates to file a federal lawsuit.

County supervisors approved a plan last week to eventually move former riverbed residents — many of whom are currently staying in motels — to temporary shelters in Huntington Beach, Irvine and Laguna Niguel.

But leaders in Irvine and Laguna Niguel have voted to sue the county over the shelter plan, and Huntington Beach officials have pushed against the plan for a location there.

Fairview Developmental Center opened in 1959 and currently provides services and housing to 133 people with intellectual and developmental disabilities, according to the California Department of Developmental Services.

Like similar facilities around the state, Fairview is scheduled to close as part of an effort to transition people out of institutional-style centers and into smaller accommodations that are more integrated into communities.

The goal is to move Fairview’s remaining residents to other living options by 2019, according to the state.

luke.money@latimes.com

Twitter @LukeMMoney