New Plan for South Coast Place Offered

A new proposal was submitted Friday for the controversial One South Coast Place office tower development in Costa Mesa, and it promises to revive the battle that dealt developer C.J. Segerstrom & Sons an unprecedented defeat earlier this year before the City Council.

The original plan proposed a 32-story skyscraper on a 100-acre parcel of land just north of the San Diego Freeway and east of Harbor Boulevard known as South Coast Place. The building would have been 500 feet tall, nearly twice the height of the county’s tallest building, Center Tower near South Coast Plaza, another Segerstrom development.

Intense opposition by nearby homeowner groups forced Segerstrom to withdraw the plan last March. Neighbors complained about the large numbers of people the development would add to already congested streets, and the City Council unanimously asked the developer to withdraw the plan.

It was the first time the Segerstroms, who developed the South Coast Plaza shopping center and nearby office towers, failed to obtain City Council approval of a project.

The new plan for One South Coast Place divides the original 32 stories between two buildings of 20 and 12 stories. Malcolm C. Ross, Segerstrom’s director of planning and design, said there are other “very positive changes” in the plan but declined to describe them, referring such questions to city officials.

Plans Arrived Late

At City Hall, Perry Valentine, one of two city planners assigned to the project, said the plans arrived too late Friday for perusal. “We don’t have any further information or statistics,” he said.

But opposition to the new plan seemed certain, even though few details were announced.

City Council member Mary Hornbuckle, who opposed the original plan, said the new plan was previewed for City Council members several months ago. “I don’t see any very obvious change” from the old plan, she said.

“I will be very interested to see what their plan has to say about traffic. . . . Just taking the 12 stories off the top and setting it beside won’t have anything to do with the traffic flow,” Hornbuckle said.

A statement issued by Segerstrom Friday said the new plan “will include a transportation improvement plan including funding for major roadway improvements.

Jim Aynes, a director of Mesa Action, which campaigned against the original plan, said the new plan “sounds like another gridlock.”

Question Trafffic Effects

“My reaction would be that if they’re just coming back with something that has the same type of adverse traffic effects, we would be opposed to it,” he said. “In Newport Beach, this is the sort of thing that would generate a vote of the people.”

Aynes was referring to a referendum in Newport Beach last month that voided Newport Beach City Council approval of an expansion plan for Newport Center. Aynes said that in view of the two new City Council members elected in Costa Mesa last month, a referendum may prove necessary.

Orville Amburgey and Peter Buffa, who campaigned with Segerstrom support, defeated slow-growth candidates backed by homeowner groups in the Nov. 4 council elections. As a city planning commissioner, Buffa had voted for the first Segerstrom proposal. After the election, the Segerstroms issued a press release applauding the two men’s victories.

Together with incumbent Councilman Donn Hall, who publicly favored the first Segerstrom plan, the three men represent a council majority.

Potential Bitterness

The potential bitterness of the split on the council became apparent immediately. “It looks like the Segerstroms bought their skyscraper,” said Councilman Dave Wheeler the day after the election. “They’ve got their three votes now.”

In an interview Friday, Buffa said that in view of his Planning Commission vote in favor of the original plan, “I don’t think it’s unreasonable to assume that I would support it again,” assuming that certain amenities--particularly large amounts of open space--remain in the proposal.

Amburgey could not be reached for comment.

“If they do manage to get it through the council, there’s always the referendum and initiative,” Aynes said. “And as happened in Newport Beach, the slow-growth people weren’t able to get elected, but they were able to stop the expansion.”

The original One South Coast Place plan was to be the first phase of the 100-acre South Coast Place commercial development on what now are bean fields.

“The new project retains a vast amount of open space--an outstanding feature of the earlier project,” said the Segerstrom statement. “It also will include an art gallery and a child-care center for children of persons employed on site, both popular features included in the earlier project.”