ORANGE : Street-Widening Decision Postponed

After hearing more than 60 residents protest a plan to widen streets in the city’s southwest area, the Planning Commission voted this week to postpone approval of the project until it could answer questions raised by the public.

More than 220 residents crowded Planning Commission chambers Monday night for the second public hearing on the 4.3-mile street-widening plan, the city’s largest public works project.

The Planning Commission will consider the project again at 7 p.m on Feb. 10.

The plan, which would widen La Veta and Chapman avenues and Glassell and Main streets, could cost up to $28 million and take 15 years to complete. It could also mean the demolition or replacement of up to 80 homes, apartments and businesses, and the displacement of 129 residents.

Speakers were most opposed to the proposed widening of La Veta Avenue from four to six lanes, which they said would divert commuter traffic to residential streets and make traffic more dangerous. They also said the project would destroy the carefully preserved Old Towne neighborhood, noted for its tree-lined streets, small-town atmosphere and one of the largest concentrations of pre-1940s structures in Southern California.

Rob Boice, president of the Old Towne Preservation Assn., told the commission that “those portions of this project that adversely impact historic resources should never have been accepted.”

Most speakers recommended that the city amend its general plan to delete widening of La Veta Avenue. But residents also recommended to the commission dozens of other solutions, including adding stop signs, more one-way streets, synchronized traffic signals and construction of a grassy median.

Lorna Deshane called the plan to change La Veta “ridiculous.” Deshane is a 50-year resident of the Nutwood tract, an area that project opponents say would be isolated from the rest of Old Towne if the La Veta widening is approved.

“It will turn us into an island and sever us from Old Towne as surely as if you put a 10-foot fence around us,” Deshane said. “It must not be allowed to happen, now or ever.”

Frank Remkiowicz, director of planning for the Orange Unified School District, said the plan to widen Main Street would eliminate a kindergarten playground and 11 parking spaces at Sycamore Elementary School. And a wall to deflect noise from increased traffic would create a “prison-like quality” at the school, he said.