OC officials looking at Costa Mesa state-owned site to relocate homeless

COSTA MESA, Calif. (KABC) -- As Orange County struggles with finding a place to house hundreds of homeless being evicted from river encampments, one site being considered is a state owned facility for the developmentally disabled in Costa Mesa.

County Supervisor Shawn Nelson and state Sen. John Moorlach, R-Costa Mesa, are looking at relocating the homeless to Fairview Developmental Center.

The state-owned 114-acre property serves the developmentally disabled and is expected to close by 2020.

The county is working on a way to find shelter for some 400 homeless people who have been forced to leave encampments in the Santa Ana riverbed.

Other locations, such as near Irvine's Great Park, have stirred controversy and strong local opposition.

Wednesday, the Costa Mesa city council voted to express its opposition to the Fairview plan.

"It was irresponsible of Supervisor Nelson to just throw out this idea of putting a tent city at Fairview Developmental Center," Costa Mesa Councilwoman Katrina Foley said. "He clearly doesn't understand the clientele that currently lives there."

Dozens of Costa Mesa residents lined up to express their opinions, many of them in opposition to the plan.

"We don't want the homeless here. We have our fair share of sober living homes," one man said.

City News Service contributed to this report.