Students from The Architectural Technology program at Orange Coast College volunteered at Snoopy house this past weekend and provided some much-need assistance with some of the more complex moving pieces associated with Snoopy and the Gang.

The Architectural program offers courses in design, building materials, construction documents, design graphics, and computer-assisted design and drafting and provides students with the discipline and critical thinking skills.

As construction begins on the new Arlington Drive Improvement Project, Public Services announced that grading, roadway and storm drain construction is scheduled to start on Monday, Nov. 27, 2017, through March 15, 2018, closing the south half of Arlington Drive from Gate 5 at the OC Fairgrounds/west end of TeWinkle Park to Newport Boulevard.

Only westbound traffic will be allowed in this area, but two-way traffic on Arlington Drive between Fairview Road and Davis Magnet School will be maintained.

Residents are asked to please take a detour around the project site and use alternate routes for eastbound travel. City staff appreciates the public’s patience and cooperation while the project is under construction.

The city has contracted with Sully-Miller Contracting Company to construct the Arlington Drive Improvements Project, which includes roadway improvements, new concrete multipurpose trail along the south side of Arlington Drive, new underground storm drain system, vegetated bioswale, and roadside beautification including new landscaping and water efficient irrigation systems.

Drill Exploration Activities for the I-405 Improvement Project will occur intermittently throughout the project area the week of Nov. 6 to Nov. 9 and the week of Nov. 13 to Nov. 17.

In an effort to make travel easier for motorists this Veterans Day holiday weekend, pre-construction activities will be suspended on Friday, Nov. 10, 2017 and will resume, Monday, Nov. 13, 2017.

Drilling exploration, nest avoidance and ADL sampling activities will be conducted at night, between 9 p.m. to 5 a.m. and during the day, between 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.

Drill exploration is performed to obtain information on the soil and rock around a site in order to design structures. Crews will be on the northbound (NB) and southbound (SB) shoulders, and on- and off-ramps of the I-405 freeway, as well as on local streets.

Nest avoidance is performed prior to the start of construction to prevent birds and bats from nesting inside structures. ADL sampling is performed to obtain information on soil on the NB and SB shoulders of the I-405 freeway. Samples are obtained to measure toxicity as a part of dust control measures.

Please be advised that this work may be loud, and dates are subject to change based on inclement weather and other operational factors.

In Costa Mesa, work is planned for the following times and place:

• NB I-405 HOV and #1 lane from MacArthur Boulevard to SR-73

As part of the I-405 Improvement Project, OCTA announced that beginning Monday Oct. 9, construction work will take place from 9 p.m. to 5 a.m. at the following locations:

• NB I-405 HOV inside lane from MacArthur Boulevard to SR-73
• NB I-405 merge lane from Bristol Street to South Coast Drive
• SB I-405 / SR-73 connector to Bear Street
• SB I-405 near Harbor Boulevard to Fairview Road
• Fairview Road bridge
• Harbor Boulevard bridge

OCTA in cooperation with The California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) is widening the San Diego Freeway (I-405) between State Route 73 (SR-73) and Interstate 605 (I-605). The project will improve 16 miles of I-405 between the SR-73 freeway in Costa Mesa and I-605 near the L.A. County line.

The Costa Mesa Police Department collaborated with the Orange County Probation Department last week to conduct compliance checks on offenders subject to Post-Release Community Supervision (PRCS), per the State Prison Realignment Assembly Bill 109.

These checks were designed to locate and audit the activity of local criminal offenders residing within the City of Costa Mesa who are under the supervision of OC Probation.

Officers completed 27 residential home checks of offenders and contacted 43 individuals, 23 of which were and classified as PRCS/Probation offenders and five of which were on formal probation with gang terms.

The compliance checks resulted in eight offenders being arrested for violations of the conditions of their probation and/or new criminal law violations, and two other individuals being cited for having an open container in public.

The fields that the Los Angeles Chargers football team will use for Summer 2017 Training Camp are undergoing final preparation before lush sod can be laid at the site.

Phase I construction included extensive grounds preparation as a means to support the highest quality sports turf available.  The Chargers will be releasing an official Summer Training Camp schedule soon.

The camp, which will be free and open to the public for viewing is scheduled to begin in late July.

Construction began in early April to remove and replace damaged concrete sidewalks, curb, gutter, and wheel chair ramps on both the north and south sides of Adams Avenue between Fairview Road and Peterson Place.

Following completion of this work, street paving operations will be initiated, which includes grinding the existing roadway pavement and replacing with new, rubberized hot mix asphalt, and restriping of lane lines and legends.

Work will be conducted during daytime off-peak hours. A minimum of one-lane of traffic shall be maintained in each direction at all times.

All work is tentatively scheduled to be completed by mid-May.

The State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Torlakson recently announced that 275 middle schools and high schools are being honored under the Gold Ribbon Schools Awards Program.

Schools applied for the award based on a model program or practice their school has adopted that includes standards-based activities, projects, strategies, and practices that can be replicated by other local educational agencies. The award acknowledged elementary schools last year.

“These terrific schools are leading the way in embracing our new rigorous academic standards and showing others how to help students succeed on their way to 21st century careers and college,” Torlakson said. “I look forward to traveling the state to honor these schools and to help share the programs, methods, and techniques that are working.”

The Gold Ribbon Awards recognize California schools that have made gains in implementing the academic content and performance standards adopted by the State Board of Education. These include the California Standards for English Language Arts and Mathematics, California English Language Development Standards, and Next Generation Science Standards.

The 2017 Gold Ribbon Schools as well as the 2017 Exemplary Program recipients, Title I Academic Achieving Award Schools, 2017 Green Ribbon Schools, 2017 Civic Learning Award Schools, and the National Blue Ribbon Schools from 2016, will be honored in May during regional ceremonies held in Costa Mesa, Santa Clara, Los Angeles, Visalia, and Sacramento.

Click here to read the California Department of Education full News Release.

Costa Mesa Fire and Rescue recruits continue to progress in their academy training.  Recently, the academy cadre was led by Captain Joe Noceti and the recruits trained with live fire. Recruits learned about fire behavior, fire attack principles and the dangers of attacking a fire.

Some of the recruits had eyes as wide as saucers as this was their first time attacking a fire in a controlled environment.

The City Council approved moving forward with the Placentia Avenue Median Improvement Project. Public services was able to secure a grant in the amount of $738,400 from the Federal Highway Safety Improvement Program to begin construction on the project.

The project will result in new landscaped medians on Placentia Avenue between Wilson Street and Adams Avenue. This project will improve the streetscape and also the traffic operations along this corridor. Due to the wide nature of Placentia Avenue, there have been numerous accidents as a result of high vehicle speeds.

Implementation of medians will provide a narrow feel for the street and minimize high-risk accidents.

City of Costa Mesa Principal Planner Minoo Ashabi attended the FAA on John Wayne Airport flight changes meeting on Wednesday Feb. 1 that was held at Newport Beach Oasis Senior Center.

The meeting was well attended and set up as an open house. There were  two stations where residents could get the noise readings at their properties using this Google Earth application. 

The arrival and departure routes have been published and will be fully implemented by April of this year.

As far as noise impacts to east Cost Mesa, there seems to be a pattern of slight decrease (0.1 dB variations); this is based on their noise model and assumptions of full compliance with the latest arrival and departure patterns.

Three new members of the City Council were sworn in Tuesday night Dec. 13 and the council chose Katrina Foley as the new mayor and Sandra Genis as the new mayor pro-tem.

Joining the council for four-year terms is returning Council Member Genis, former Councilman and Assemblyman Allan Mansoor and longtime community leader and attorney John Stephens.

The trio of new council members join Mayor Foley and Council Member Jim Righeimer on the five-member body.

“I am so honored and blessed to be serving as mayor in a city that I love so dearly,” Mayor Foley said. “I look forward to working with my colleagues on the council to create an inclusive environment at City Hall for residents and businesses alike. I look forward to partnering with the business, tourism and arts community to enhance and further define our community as the City of the Arts.”

Foley, who was elected to the council in 2014, has a long history of community involvement and was first elected to City Council in 2004 and re-elected in 2008 before running successfully for the Newport-Mesa school board in 2010.

Foley is president of The Foley Group, a Professional Law Corporation in Newport Beach. The Foley Group, PLC provides services in artist and athlete management, employment litigation, family law, education advocacy and non-profit compliance matters.

Genis, who was raised in Costa Mesa and attended Estancia High School, was first elected to the City Council in 1988 and served as mayor from 1989 to 1990. She was re-elected in 1992 and ran again in 2012 and re-elected in 2016 and both times was the top vote getter.

She is a retired city planner and has worked on a number of community causes, such as the preservation of Fairview Park and keeping the OC Fairgrounds in public ownership.

Mansoor was first elected to the City Council in 2002 and was appointed mayor in 2005 and again in 2007 and 2009. Also an Estancia graduate, Mansoor served as an Orange County Sheriff’s Deputy. He was elected to the 74^th District of the State Assembly in 2010 and served until 2014.

This is Stephens’ first stint on the City Council after a narrow loss in 2012. As a resident of Costa Mesa since 1989, he has deep community ties and has served on the city’s Pension Oversight Committee, the Costa Mesa High School Foundation, Costa Mesans for Responsible Government and is a founding member of the St. John the Baptist Finance Council and Pastoral Council.

He was a leader of the “No” on the Charter campaigns in 2012 and 2014, including intervening in a lawsuit between the City of Costa Mesa and the Orange County Registrar of Voters in 2012 and is a member of the Orange County Bar Association’s Judiciary Committee, which evaluates judicial candidates for the governor.

A longtime attorney, his firm Stephens Friedland LLP employees four full‐time lawyers and a staff of 10 employees.

Both Stephen Mensinger and Gary Monahan officially ended their council terms on Tuesday. Mensinger was most recently mayor beginning in 2014, and Monahan was appointed mayor three times in 1998, 2003 and 2011.