COSTA MESA : City OKs Traffic Pact With Irvine

The City Council has approved an agreement with Irvine aimed at keeping traffic from the Irvine Business Complex from clogging Costa Mesa’s streets.

Under the terms of the agreement, which was approved unanimously, Irvine will hire a consultant to monitor traffic generated by its 2,800-acre business complex and pay for street improvements and other traffic measures in Costa Mesa--if they are deemed necessary.

But some officials said the agreement doesn’t go far enough.

“We still are upset,” said Peter Naghavi, Costa Mesa’s transportation services manager. “(But) this is the best we could work out with them.” The action comes several months after city officials charged that Irvine was ignoring its complaints and had threatened to sue. Beginning in 1990, traffic officials outlined their concerns in letters to Irvine. Among other things, Costa Mesa officials said Irvine did not use accurate figures when calculating how development would affect Costa Mesa.

According to Irvine’s environmental impact review of the project, the Irvine Business Complex won’t affect Costa Mesa, whose officials take an opposing view.

“The EIR was not satisfactory,” said Costa Mesa’s Naghavi. “They had employed substandard methods. I believe the problems would be much more horrendous then this EIR indicates.”

Areas of Costa Mesa next to the Irvine complex--including the northern portion of the city near South Coast Plaza and the eastern side of the Costa Mesa freeway--would suffer the most from added traffic congestion, Costa Mesa officials contend.

The agreement has been approved by the city of Irvine. Further traffic studies will commence once the business complex has reached a total of 46 million square feet of commercial and residential development.