BREA : Santa Fe Housing Project Vote Delayed

After a marathon session that ended at 1 a.m. Wednesday, the City Council took no action on a proposal for a controversial housing development after a majority of council members indicated that they would not support the plan in its current form.

Council members Kathryn E. Wiser and Glenn G. Parker voiced strong objections to the project, citing health and safety concerns about the site. The 284-acre property, owned by Texas-based Santa Fe Energy Resources Inc., contains abandoned oil wells and storage tanks, and is near an earthquake fault and a landfill.

“I feel that Santa Fe is trying to do what’s best for Santa Fe: to make a profit off a very disturbed piece of land,” Wiser said. “I can’t overcome residents’ resistance to this project.”

Parker said that the site, north of Carbon Canyon Road and east of Valencia Avenue, “has unique characteristics, and it’s the combination of these characteristics that presents a problem.”

Councilwoman Lynn Daucher said she is concerned about the number of houses that Santa Fe wants to build. The company has asked the council to allow 763 homes, although the city’s General Plan would allow only 497.

Councilman Burnie Dunlap and Mayor Bev Perry said they support the project, however, citing a proposed historical center, park and school as benefits to the city.

Perry said the council delayed voting on the project to give Santa Fe an opportunity to revise the proposal. If the company does so, the change would be the sixth since the project was introduced in 1992.

Some residents, however, criticized the council’s inaction.

“They should have voted ‘no’ and then had [Santa Fe] come back with a new plan that could go through the proper channels,” said resident Diane Taylor, who opposes the project.