State denies request for further legal action in dispute over Costa Mesa council member Allan Mansoor’s residency

The state attorney general’s office has denied a request to allow further legal action on the question of whether Costa Mesa Mayor Pro Tem Allan Mansoor can remain on the City Council. A complaint filed against Mansoor in March alleged he lived in Newport Beach for part of last year in violation of state law.

An opinion dated Friday and bearing the names of California Attorney General Xavier Becerra and Deputy Attorney General Anya Binsacca states the complaint “does not raise a substantial question of law or fact that warrants initiating a judicial proceeding” and that permitting a proposed “quo warranto” action to move forward in court “would not serve the public interest.”

A quo warranto requires a person to show what authority he or she has to hold an office.

The March complaint — signed by Art Perry, a local resident who is a member of the Costa Mesa Sanitary District board — alleged Mansoor and his family lived for a time last year in a house owned by his in-laws in the 1600 block of Pegasus Street in Newport Beach.

By doing so, the document claimed, Mansoor violated a state law requiring a council member to be a resident of the city he or she represents and therefore should be removed from the City Council.

“I am pleased with the attorney general’s decision finding no reasonable basis to doubt my family’s connection to Costa Mesa,” Mansoor said Tuesday. “It reinforces that I have always acted within the spirit of the statutes requiring residency for City Council members while we were in search of new housing.”

Mansoor was elected to the council for a third time in 2016, and his current term runs through 2020. He also served from 2002 to 2010.

Mansoor, who previously had said he planned to run for mayor this year as the city holds its first direct election for that post, said Tuesday that he instead intends to seek the City Council seat representing District 5, which covers Costa Mesa’s downtown and about half the Westside.

Perry could not be reached for comment Tuesday, but Liz McNabb — chairwoman of Costa Mesa’s Parks and Recreation Commission and part of a group that collaborated to bring the legal action forward — said “Mansoor may have won on a legal technicality, but he has certainly lost the public trust.”

She said the complaint “served its purpose by exposing the fact that he lived outside of Costa Mesa,” she wrote in a text message. “That in itself is a victory.”

Mansoor said in legal documents that he lived in the Enclave apartment complex near South Coast Plaza in Costa Mesa from about 2010 until June 2017, when his last lease expired.

Determining that that apartment no longer met his family’s needs, Mansoor began looking for a new home with the help of a real estate agent, he said.

He said he found an apartment for rent on Canyon Drive in Costa Mesa’s Westside around Aug. 1 but wasn’t able to move in until Oct. 17 because it “needed some extensive remodeling.”

“During the time between Enclave and Canyon, there was never a moment that I ... intended to live anywhere other than Costa Mesa, which has been my home for most of my life,” he said in a document. He did not disclose where he and his family lived between apartments. The attorney general’s statement says Mansoor “does not deny that he lived in the house on Pegasus Street for some time in 2017.”

According to the AG’s office, intent is a crucial factor in determining a public official’s legal residence.

“Given the evidence before us, we do not believe that temporarily staying with relatives for a few months while making efforts to secure permanent housing is sufficient to effect a change in domicile,” the opinion states.

Though documents supporting Perry’s complaint included declarations from two Pegasus Street residents that they observed Mansoor regularly staying at the Newport Beach house last year, the attorney general’s office determined that Perry had presented “no evidence that Mansoor intended to remain in Newport Beach either permanently or indefinitely.”

“Mansoor has declared, under penalty of perjury, his intent at all times to remain a resident of Costa Mesa,” the opinion states. “Moreover, that intent is supported by Mansoor’s conduct in searching for apartments, employing a Realtor and signing a lease on an apartment that had yet to undergo substantial renovation.”

luke.money@latimes.com

Twitter @LukeMMoney