Judge lets New Harbor Inn stay open, pending trial in Costa Mesa’s complaint
An Orange County Superior Court judge this week cleared the way for the New Harbor Inn to remain open for business, even as the city of Costa Mesa pursues legal action against it.
Judge Walter Schwarm on Wednesday turned away the city’s push for a court order to either halt operation of the 32-room motel at 2205 Harbor Blvd. or appoint a receiver to take over its management, pending trial in the city’s public-nuisance suit.
Even if there’s a chance City Hall might eventually prevail in its attempt to force either the closure or cleanup of the motel, which it considers blighted and crime-infested, Schwarm determined that granting the city’s request would harm the property’s tenants and its owners, Ming Cheng Chen and Hsiang Chu Shih Chen.
In a statement Thursday, Costa Mesa spokesman Tony Dodero said the city is “disappointed that we didn’t prevail” but characterized the ruling as a “minor setback.”
“We will be requesting that the court set the trial for early 2017,” he said.
City officials, Dodero added, “are heartened to see that the court felt the city is likely to prevail on the merits at trial.”
Attorney Frank Weiser, who is representing the Chens, disputed that characterization.
“Even though there’s no final ruling in the case yet, I think the judge still expressed skepticism both at the hearing and in the order,” Weiser said Thursday. “I think that’s the underlying premise here that’s motivating the order.”
Weiser said he thinks the ruling “strongly bolsters the defendants’ contention that their property was not, and certainly is not at this time, operating as a public nuisance and that the city has ulterior motives behind this lawsuit.”
In April, Costa Mesa filed a public-nuisance complaint asking the court to authorize either temporarily or permanently shuttering the New Harbor Inn, appointing a receiver to take over its management or requiring its owners to address city-identified security and operations issues.
In his ruling, Schwarm noted several changes the Chens have put in place at the motel to address the city’s concerns, such as hiring a security patrol service.
Last month, the Chens filed a federal lawsuit alleging that the city has discriminated against them and their tenants and that recent efforts to close the motel violate their civil and constitutional rights.
The lawsuit alleges that Costa Mesa has in recent years undertaken a “systematic policy, custom and practice” aimed at forcing the New Harbor Inn out of business “to drive down the value of the property for eventual transfer to private developers.”
The suit, filed in U.S. District Court, also alleges that Costa Mesa police officers have entered private areas of the motel without notice, consent, a warrant or a court order.
New Harbor Inn is among the motels that city officials have derided as blight and hotbeds for crime and drug use. In recent years, law and code enforcement raids have examined rooms in the Alibaba Motel, Costa Mesa Motor Inn and Sandpiper Motel, and various fines have been issued.
“These motels have been operating improperly for years, and the New Harbor is one of the worst,” Mayor Steve Mensinger said in a statement Thursday.
A program included in a recent update of the city’s general plan would offer incentives to owners of some motels along Harbor and Newport boulevards to demolish their businesses for high-density apartments.
Affordable-housing advocates have criticized that tactic, saying tearing down the motels would eliminate a source of last-resort and lower-income housing. Any apartment complexes built to replace the motels, they say, should be required to include affordable units.
Other critics have said high-density apartment complexes can attract just as many, if not more, police calls than the motels do.
The city already has approved plans to replace the Motor Inn at 2277 Harbor Blvd. with 224 high-end apartments. That project has been the subject of criticism and a target of legal challenges from affordable-housing advocates.
Twitter: @LukeMMoney
