COSTA MESA : Motel Dwellers Get $28,000 to Relocate

The final occupants of a motel that was converted into low-income housing have accepted a $28,000 settlement to help them find new lodgings, according to the project developer.

Merrill Butler of the Butler-Ogden Group said his company made the settlement Friday with a family of three. Mark and Teri Godfrey lived with their son, Ian, in the Travelodge motel on Newport Boulevard before it became a housing project called Costa Mesa Village, Butler said.

Neither the Godfreys nor their lawyer, Martin Ageson, were available for comment.

Butler said the family plans to move to Washington state. A federal law required the low-income housing project to reimburse the family for new housing.

Berman said the family was too large to live in the new project. Eighty percent of the project must be filled by single people, and 20% of the rooms could accommodate two people, she said.

“It’s really not designed as family housing,” Berman said. “The intent of the project is to have one working person, or maybe two.”