COSTA MESA : Sidewalks Approved for Imperiled Street

Residents of East 19th Street received a show of support in the form of concrete when the City Council approved building sidewalks on the threatened residential street this week.

The council approved spending $225,000 in Measure C funds that have been reserved for the project. The city must first issue a negative declaration, stating that the neighborhood would not be adversely affected by the sidewalk.

The meandering sidewalk will bypass trees and other obstacles, such as a fence built by one of the residents, and in some cases may intrude onto private property. The city will try to obtain easements from residents at no cost.

The street, which has been listed on the county’s master plan of highways as an “arterial highway,” is targeted for widening, which would eliminate 69 homes. But the city, which opposes that plan, has met with county representatives to study the effects of widening the street and of building two bridges over the Santa Ana River leading into Huntington Beach and Fountain Valley.

Although the plans have been on the books for decades and there are no immediate plans to widen the street, residents there have not been able to think of their homes as permanent, said Councilman Joe Erickson, who has worked with residents trying to get those plans taken off the county’s maps.

“The county master plan of highways is a line on a map, but it keeps people from enjoying their houses,” he said.

“I think the sidewalks would only improve our city and our street,” said Diann Osterlund, who with her husband, Don, has also worked to get the street reclassified as residential.

“People have really put home improvements on hold,” she said. “The people that have lived there a long time have been waiting for this.”

The county has agreed to a cooperative study on the plans. Erickson said he is confident that plans to widen East 19th Street and build the bridges will eventually be deleted.

“The sidewalks are a tangible improvement to the city and the neighborhood,” he said, adding that the sidewalk construction “is a tangible sign that this (widening) won’t happen.”

Residents have long complained about traffic on the street, which many drivers use to get from Newport Boulevard to Irvine Avenue. The city has reduced the speed limit to 25 m.p.h., installed more stop signs and added other measures to slow traffic.

Despite those additions, residents say, the street remains too dangerous to walk on or to allow children to walk along.

“We did ask for the sidewalks as a means to put some sanity in our lives,” said resident Bob Hoffman, who has also been active in trying to get the street downgraded on the county’s plan.

He submitted a petition with 71 signatures of neighbors supporting sidewalks.