Santa Ana Drops Acosta Zoning Case

Santa Ana on Wednesday dropped a misdemeanor criminal complaint filed against Councilman John Acosta alleging zoning violations at a storage yard he had been using in the Logan neighborhood.

Deputy City Atty. Francois Louis Rhemrev said the city decided to drop the case after Acosta removed bricks and other materials for his masonry business from the lot on North Logan Street.

“Mr. Acosta fully complied with what we requested him to do,” Rhemrev said. “There is no need to prosecute further. . . . Our goal is compliance.”

The city attorney’s office filed the complaint in June after Acosta disputed the city’s contention that he could not use the lot for a storage yard. To support his case, Acosta presented a 1982 letter from the city planning director that apparently approved such a use.

But current city planners said that the letter was incorrect and that Acosta needed a conditional-use permit to operate a storage yard on residential property.

Acosta said Wednesday he had been “prepared to litigate and fight City Hall, like any other small businessman would.” But the owner of the Logan Street lot, Esther Hernandez, has plans to sell the property or move a residence onto it, so Acosta vacated the lot over the Labor Day weekend.

He moved the materials to another yard on the west side of the city, Acosta said Wednesday.

“It (moving) set me back close to $5,000,” Acosta said. “I’m not too happy about it at all.”

In June, Acosta accused “political enemies” of engineering the complaint against him.

Acosta lost his bid to be the city’s first mayor last year, when Mayor Dan Young was elected. The councilman announced in July that he would run for mayor again in the November election but changed his mind a short time later.

Acosta said he will instead run against Wilson B. Hart, a fellow council member and bitter political foe.