Segerstrom Clears Court Hurdle

A major hurdle in the path of C.J. Segerstrom & Son’s massive Home Ranch development in Costa Mesa was removed Tuesday.

Orange County Superior Court Judge Tully H. Seymour approved the city’s General Plan amendment and revised environmental assessment, which allows the $400-million office complex to again proceed through the city’s review process.

The project had been stalled in legal limbo since fall, 1987. Building cannot begin until further environmental impact reports are approved by the City Council and a citizen group’s ballot referendum that would block the project is put to city voters.

Segerstrom “is pleased with today’s decision,” said Tom Santley, a company spokesman, reading from a prepared statement. He estimated that the developer has lost $4 million because of delays since the project was blocked in a suit filed with Seymour by Costa Mesa Residents for Responsible Growth.

Seymour’s decision did not come as a surprise to the citizen group. “We’re disappointed,” said Jay Humphrey, a spokesman for the slow-growth group. “But we recognized that the court would say proceed at some point. We can fall back on the referendum.”

The slow-growth group will not appeal the ruling, he added.

In March, the group gathered enough signatures to force a citywide vote on a referendum seeking to block the project. The City Council has delayed placing the measure on the November ballot or calling a special election, pending Seymour’s ruling.

The council is expected to make that decision at its next meeting, June 6. Although the council must by law eventually put the measure on the ballot, some City Council members have said they may challenge the legality of the referendum.

Home Ranch--which is planned to have 3.1 million square feet of office space for 11,000 workers, a day care center and bike trails--is to be built in phases in the next 20 years on a 94-acre site bounded by Fairview Road, the San Diego Freeway, Harbor Boulevard and Sunflower Avenue.

The first phase will contain the 16-acre One South Coast Place office complex that will be anchored by towers 20 and 12 stories high. IBM had been scheduled to move into the 12-story building in spring, 1989, but that move was delayed by the court action.

Traffic Objections

Opponents of Home Ranch contend that it will clog city streets, add to pollution and change the residential nature of northern Costa Mesa. One South Coast Place is alone expected to bring 47,000 more cars a day to the area.

Seymour halted construction on One South Coast Place in October at the request of the slow-growth group, which argued successfully that the city’s General Plan is inadequate because it did not set population density and square footage standards for the site.

In February, the City Council amended the city’s General Plan; Seymour approved those amendments Tuesday in his ruling.

He also found that the city’s revised environmental assessment now complies with state environmental and zoning laws.

To proceed, Home Ranch now needs City Council approval of the final environmental impact report on One South Coast Place and of the preliminary development plan for the entire project.