Costa Mesa Planning Commission takes more time before voting on general plan update
Costa Mesa’s proposed general plan update would include major land-use changes, such as allowing redevelopment of the Fairview Developmental Center if the center closes, as is proposed.
The Costa Mesa Planning Commission this week delayed voting on the city’s proposed general plan update, saying commissioners and local residents should have more time to look over the plan in detail and get answers to questions they may have.
Commissioners had the option Monday to recommend that the City Council adopt the general plan update, but they instead voted 4-0 to delay a recommendation until their next meeting April 25. Chairman Robert Dickson was absent.
“It is a large document,” Commissioner Stephan Andranian said. “It takes some time to read; it takes some time to analyze and digest.”
A handful of Costa Mesa residents submitted letters asking commissioners to delay action since the deadline to submit comments on the update is next Monday.
The general plan is a state-mandated document that acts as a blueprint for development in the city.
The proposed update would permit more residential units, particularly high-density units, than what is allowed in the current general plan. The update also would include some major land-use changes, such as redesignating the site of the Fairview Developmental Center to allow for redevelopment should the center close, as is proposed.
Michael Balsamo, chief executive of the Orange County chapter of the Building Industry Association of Southern California, sent a letter to the city in support of the update.
“Adding more housing in centrally located Costa Mesa, close to jobs and essential services, will help in balancing Orange County’s jobs-to-housing ratio, assist in alleviating traffic and contribute to state-mandated environmental and regional planning policies,” the letter reads.
However, several people who spoke at Monday’s meeting said they were concerned that the development allowed under the revised general plan would add more traffic to local roads or harm Costa Mesa’s air quality.
Others said the general plan needs to somehow touch on the issue of sober-living homes in Costa Mesa.
Resident Mary Spadoni called the homes, which house recovering drug and/or alcohol addicts, “probably one of our larger industries” and said the plan should account for the effects those facilities can have, such as on traffic.
City officials have estimated that, as of January, Costa Mesa had about 300 sober-living and group homes.
“This is a monumental job that’s going to affect not only today’s residents but the residents’ children and their children’s children,” Spadoni said of the general plan update. “Our vision has to be reflected in this, so I hope our vision can be to uphold some of the character of Costa Mesa.”
Kathy Esfahani of the Costa Mesa Affordable Housing Coalition raised concern about a proposed general plan incentive program designed to entice motel owners along Harbor and Newport boulevards to redevelop their properties into housing projects. The “density bonus” would allow developers to build more units on a property than originally permitted.
“That density bonus, without any affordable-housing requirement, will result in a massive displacement of motel residents — people who rely on motels, and have for years, as de facto affordable housing in our city,” Esfahani said.
Minoo Ashabi, principal planner with the city, said the City Council’s direction was to “not include anything related to affordable housing in the incentive areas.”
The council voted last week to move ahead with a possible $20-million bond for affordable-housing projects, Ashabi pointed out. That measure is expected to be on the November ballot.
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