Week in Review : MAJOR EVENTS, IMAGES AND PEOPLE IN ORANGE COUNTY NEWS. : CITIES : Costa Mesa Council Rejects 32-Story Segerstrom Tower

Costa Mesa City Council members did the voting, and even they were amazed at the outcome. “I’m shellshocked,” Councilwoman Arlene Schafer said

The council had unanimously turned down a major development proposal from C. J. Segerstrom & Sons, and that had never happened before.

It was an early Segerstrom development--the hugely successful South Coast Plaza shopping mall--that put Costa Mesa on the map. Then across Bristol Street from the mall came other Segerstrom projects--the hotel, high-rise office buildings, movie theaters and a sculpture garden in Town Center. The Segerstroms donated land and millions of dollars to locate the South Coast Repertory Theatre and the Performing Arts Center there, too.

“Without the Segerstroms, this city would be Blahville,” Mayor Norma Hertzog said

This time the Segerstroms wanted to build a 32-story office tower--nearly twice the height of the county’s tallest building--on one of their lima bean fields next to the San Diego Freeway near Harbor Boulevard. Besides the usual accompaniments, the 100-acre development would include a day-care center, art gallery and 15 acres of open space.

“The area will be a restful haven for people . . . a pleasant place for strolling, jogging or enjoying lunch,” one of the company’s brochures stated.

But the nearby neighborhoods, which in recent years have organized several active homeowner groups, rose in protest and packed the City Council hearing on the development. In a meeting room designed to seat 176, more than 300 people waited to speak, the vast majority ready to complain about increased traffic and urbanization.

After five hours, Councilman Donn Hall, the project’s biggest booster on the council, cut the hearing short by asking that the Segerstroms withdraw the project and return with something more acceptable to the neighbors. All five council members voted to concur.

“I still think it’s a great project, just gorgeous,” Hall said later. “But when I saw I didn’t have the votes, I made my motion so the Segerstroms could leave with some dignity.”

Malcolm Ross of the Segerstrom firm said he had no idea how the project could be amended to satisfy the homeowner groups.