COSTA MESA : Water Board Orders Residency Review

The Mesa Consolidated Water District’s board of directors has instructed its legal counsel to review the agency’s residency policy in the wake of a controversy over the board president’s primary residence.

But Robert Anslow, the water district’s attorney, said at Thursday’s board meeting that he does not expect the rules to be rewritten any time in the near future.

Since November’s election, an unsuccessful candidate for the board has questioned whether the primary residence of Tom Nelson, president of the district’s board of directors, is in Costa Mesa or outside the district in Seal Beach.

Nelson has said that his principal place of residence since 1984 has been in Costa Mesa, but he also owns a home in Leisure World in Seal Beach.

Mary Urashima, spokeswoman for the district, said the issue of what constitutes a legal residence is confusing. Nelson’s Costa Mesa apartment is not in a residential part of the city and he has said he has used it as an office in the past.

Now, however, he contends it is his primary residence because he receives mail there and the address appears on his driver’s license.

At an earlier meeting, the board asked the secretary of state’s office to determine whether Nelson’s Costa Mesa address qualifies as a residence. The secretary of state’s office has not yet responded.