MISSION VIEJO : Auto Center OKd Despite Opposition

Over the protests of a roomful of angry residents, the City Council this week upheld a Planning Commission decision to allow a tire and auto repair center in a neighborhood strip mall.

Although the proposed 4,900-square-foot auto center would be limited to minor repair work, residents living near the Crown Valley Retail Center complained about the potential for excessive noise and traffic. The angry residents threatened to boycott neighboring businesses that supported the auto center, according to tenants of the strip mall.

The shopping plaza, at Marguerite and Crown Valley parkways, is owned by the Mission Viejo Co., which submitted the plans for the auto center.

“Noise abatement?” neighborhood resident Ed Kearns asked at Monday’s meeting. “The Mission Viejo Co. doesn’t know the meaning of it.”

Despite the complaints, city staff recommended that the appeal filed by the residents be denied. Tests conducted by the city showed that noise levels from the auto center would be negligible, according to a staff report.

Clint Sherrod, community development director, said he participated in a test in which air-compressor impact guns used to remove tires from vehicles were run inside the building.

“I don’t think the noise is a potential problem,” he said. “I’m convinced these (tire and repair) operations could be conducted there.”

The Planning Commission had voted 3 to 2 on Oct. 7 to approve the auto center. Dissenting commissioners felt that the auto center was an inappropriate use for the heavily residential area. Residents previously had been successful in halting plans for a carwash on the site and filed an appeal to the council on plans for the auto shop shortly after the commission’s decision.

The Crown Valley Retail Center is a commercial plaza that includes restaurants, a pharmacy, a copy shop and other businesses.

Ann Stover, owner of a gourmet coffee shop in the center, told council members that she was threatened with a boycott by representatives of the nearby Cordova Homeowners Assn. if she didn’t oppose the auto center.

She produced a letter from the association that warned, “If the City Council denies our appeal, the association intends to institute a boycott of the tire/auto repair shop as well as your business. . . .”

“This kind of thing makes me angry,” Stover said outside City Hall. “I wouldn’t have come down here otherwise.”