COSTA MESA : County to Move Its Health Clinic

The county is planning to relocate a clinic for the poor from its present location in Costa Mesa to a new, expanded site.

The City Council learned of the plan at Monday’s meeting from a resident who presented a letter he had received from the county about the proposal. The letter prompted council members to ask the city staff to find out more about the matter.

The county Health Care Agency plans to move its Maternal Child Health Clinic from 767 W. 19th St., where it has been for the past 12 years, to 2845 Mesa Verde Drive East, said Len Foster, deputy director of public health.

The present facility is too small for the growing needs of the population and cannot be expanded, Foster said. The county required a larger space that would be within walking distance of many of the people it serves or that would be near a major transportation corridor, such as Harbor Boulevard.

The new clinic will offer family planning, prenatal care and the federally funded Women, Infants and Children food program, Foster said.

The clinic, Foster said, will not affect residents in the area, as it will be in a commercial area and will be behind a wall 8 feet high.

“We are not going to adversely impact any residential area,” Foster said. “We have taken the time to make our intentions known in advance to the surrounding businesses, and we have not had any negative reactions at all. Obviously the county does this because we would like to know if we are going to be engendering any negative reactions before we do this.”

Councilman Peter F. Buffa, however, said he thinks that residents will be affected but that he is waiting until he receives a report on the matter from the city staff before he will comment further or decide to take action.