FULLERTON : Restaurant in Park Will Be Discussed

A city-owned, hilltop restaurant with a 270-degree panoramic view of Orange County and the Pacific Ocean could sit atop a public park in the East Coyote Hills next year.

The City Council will hold a public hearing Tuesday afternoon to consider plans for the restaurant and the layout of the proposed 11-acre Vista Park. The restaurant would be built on the highest portion of the park, about 40 feet above the intersection of State College Boulevard and Bastanchury Road.

Plans for the park’s design have been tentatively approved by several city commissions, but the design of the proposed 438-seat restaurant has been a sticking point among city officials and residents.

In separate meetings this month, the Planning Commission and the Redevelopment Design Review Committee said the proposed 38-foot-high restaurant was too massive.

Anaheim-based Summit Restaurant Co. then scaled down plans for its English country-style restaurant and on Tuesday will bring council members sketches for a 30-foot-high building.

Summit has a lease with the city to build and operate the restaurant.

“We’re trying to design something that will satisfy the citizens of Fullerton and also create a building that will be a focal point of the community,” said Gary Parkinson, a partner of Summit in the Catch Restaurant in Anaheim.

But an English-style restaurant isn’t what some Fullerton residents want to see as the focal point of the park.

“It will look like an English mansion,” said Miriam E. Sheddon, member of a resident’s group called the Coyote Hills Committee. “That doesn’t go with a park; it stands out.”

The Coyote Hills Committee, which has about 15 members, wants to see the planned restaurant blend in more naturally with the park’s design.

According to the city’s plans, landscaping for the park will consist of drought-tolerant plants requiring little irrigation and maintenance.