City OKs Paper’s Plan to Double Plant Size

Despite protests from more than 175 residents, the City Council on Monday approved the Orange County Register’s plans to double the size of its production facility on Grand Avenue.

In a 6-0 vote, the council agreed to amend the city’s General Plan as well as change its existing zoning law, which currently does not allow such expansion of commercial uses in the neighborhood. Councilman Miguel A. Pulido Jr. abstained from the vote, stating that his family’s muffler shop does business with the paper.

Protest leaders said they objected to the project because the Register plans to buy 6.6 acres north of its property, where more than 200 low-income apartment units are located.

John Duran, an attorney who spoke against the project, said the Register’s growth was “community cannibalism.” Duran told the council that it can set an example for the rest of the county by not allowing the Register to demolish the apartments.

“We are not Newport Beach,” he said. “We are a city that thinks of its own.”

According to the Register’s plans, the apartment units on Fruit Street will be razed immediately after the newspaper is in escrow with the building’s owner.

Steve Oliver, a relocation consultant hired by the Register, said each family displaced by the project will receive at least $2,000.

According to plans submitted to the City Council, the project is divided into two phases, which are expected to take about 25 years to complete.

The paper occupies 406,650 square feet at its present location at Grand Avenue and employs 2,006 people.

During the first phase of the project the paper will add 266,675 square feet and 338 parking spaces.

During the second phase, the paper will add another four presses and expand 314,265 square feet. The paper plans to construct a four-story parking structure that will be located south of Grand Avenue.