GARDEN GROVE : City OKs Dental Clinic in Residential Area

The City Council has allowed a dentist to open a clinic close to some pricey homes in the Woodward Lane neighborhood.

The council voted 4 to 1 last week to let Mark D. Bedard convert a single-family home to a dental clinic, despite some protests from nearby residents worried about the encroachment of businesses into their neighborhood.

“We are entitled to a little protection for our investment,” said builder Gene Conti, who owns a $600,000 home close to the proposed clinic.

But council members said that the clinic would enhance property values because of the improvements Bedard promised.

Bedard is proposing to remodel a rental house and an adjacent mobile home garage on half an acre. He said the area would be landscaped and designed to blend with the neighborhood.

“I’m not an out-of-town investor trying to make a quick buck,” said Bedard, who said his family has a 40-year dental practice in the city. “I’m not planning to do anything weird there.”

Councilman Mark Leyes, who voted against the proposal, said that it’s wrong to allow a business in a residential zone.

The Planning Commission rejected the proposal last month because the area is zoned residential with lot sizes of at least 15,000 square feet.

But the council Tuesday agreed to change the zoning for Bedard’s property to allow for an office building, and relaxed code requirements for setbacks, walls and trash storage areas.

Harry Krebs, a planning commissioner, said that an office building in a residential zone must not be allowed because the clinic may be sold in the future and converted to another use.

Krebs abstained when the project went before the Planning Commission.