WESTMINSTER : Housing Project Wins Approval of City, Residents

City Council members did not expect a proposal for 65 homes on a former school site to generate a great deal of controversy but were stunned Tuesday when 40 residents showed up for public comment--all to support it.

“I have never sat in a public hearing where no one was against the project,” Councilman Frank Fry Jr. said. “It’s kind of dumbfounding.”

A dozen residents spoke in favor of the project before the council approved the plan unanimously. The group also presented the council with a list of 158 signatures of residents who favor the project.

Centerstone Development Co. now will proceed with its plans for a tract of single-family homes and a half-acre park on an 8.9-acre triangular parcel of land at Hammond Place north of Westminster Boulevard.

The land is the site of the former Virginia K. Boos Elementary School, which was closed last year because of changing enrollment patterns in the Westminster Unified School District.

The school district will receive $4.1 million from the sale, officials said, which will be used for various capital improvement projects.

Doug Willingham, who lives near the site, expressed the sentiments of many at the hearing. “I’m bummed that we’re losing a school,” he said, “but I think we’re getting a great improvement to our neighborhood.”

Councilwoman Charmayne S. Bohman said the project was easy to support because of Centerstone’s previous developments in the city, which she said are of high quality. The homes will sell for $220,000 to $270,000, officials said.

Such housing developments are important, Bohman said, “if we want people to say, ‘I live in Westminster,’ rather than, ‘I live near Huntington Beach.’ ”