Consultants to Study AAA Plan Concerns : Development: Costa Mesa’s mayor says traffic problems would result from Auto Club expansion.

Consultants will spend the next two weeks responding to concerns by Mayor Sandra L. Genis that traffic problems would result from a 500,000-square-foot expansion of the Automobile Club of Southern California, the deputy city manager said Tuesday.

The City Council on Monday postponed approval of the project, after Genis, a professional planner, spent more than two hours criticizing the project’s environmental impact report, the study of how a project will affect a community.

Genis said she doubts whether the EIR, performed by consultants for the city, accurately predicts the amount of traffic the development will draw.

“After the experts testified, I got the impression that they weren’t sure themselves,” she said during the meeting. The council majority voted for a two-week delay on the project, and asked Deputy City Manager Donald D. Lamm and traffic consultants to defend the traffic study in the EIR.

The Auto Club wants to double its office space at 3333 Fairview Road, to almost 1 million square feet. With an anticipated 2,509 employees, the Auto Club would become the city’s largest employer. An independent study performed for the city has said the expansion could generate an additional $2.2 million yearly for local retailers and service providers.

Without the certification of the EIR, the council could not consider the other approvals needed for the development, and decided to postpone consideration of the entire proposal until its June 20 meeting.

Auto Club vice president Peter R. McDonald said afterward that he was frustrated by the delay and that the traffic study had been completed for months. Genis said she had questioned the traffic consultants for months without getting answers.

Lamm said many of Genis’ questions we asked for the first time Monday, leaving consultants at a loss for quick answers. He said consultants will return with the answers in two weeks.

“I’m fairly confident that we can provide her the information that will satisfy her,” Lamm said.

For months, residents have challenged the proposed expansion of the Auto Club offices, arguing that it will open the way for excessive commercia growth in the north part of the city.

At the same time, local business leaders have hailed the project, saying it could attract more jobs, commerce and development.

And while residents and business people packed the council chambers to praise or critize the project Monday, they never got the chance to speak. Some said afterward the unexpected postponement makes the city look anti-business.

“This is exactly the type of project this community and most communities truly desire,”said Charles C. Wilson, a manager for Southern California Edison and the chairman of the Economic Development Task Force, a joint project of the city and the Chamber of Commerce.