COSTA MESA : Council Labels Hotel a Public Nuisance, Acts to Revoke Its License

The City Council this week upheld a Planning Commission’s decision to revoke the operating license of the Coastal Inn, after listening to about a dozen complaints from residents about alleged drug deals and late-night noise at the hotel.

The City Council unanimously declared the 86-unit hotel, which has been plagued with numerous code violations since 1989, a public nuisance. The owner, Suresh Sheth, has two weeks to come up with a financial plan that would bring the hotel into full compliance, or face going out of business.

Thomas Tadesco, the attorney representing Sheth, told the council he thought the owner had made substantial improvements to the hotel in the three months that were allotted to him by the commission last fall.

“Granted, this hotel will never be the Ritz-Carlton, but it no longer poses health hazards,” Tadesco said. “I only ask that you dispense justice with compassion.”

Sharon Centner, a former maid at the hotel, said she discovered rodent nests under her daughter’s bed. Steve Burris, a resident who lives east of the hotel on Elden Avenue, said that hotel tenants are constantly trespassing or throwing garbage into adjacent properties.

Jeff Carlson, an area resident, said he has seen people wandering outside the hotel as early as 3 a.m.

Costa Mesa Police Chief David Snowden said police have received 48 complaints at the hotel in the last six months, among them six for narcotic-related offenses and one for child neglect. The number of complaints is an unusually high amount for any hotel in the city, Snowden said.