Plans for Storage Yard, Mall Dropped

After weeks of debate, a developer has withdrawn a proposal to build a shopping center and self-storage yard on the last remaining chunk of ranch land in Anaheim Hills.

GME Development of Irvine will ask the City Council at tonight’s meeting to accept the withdrawal.

“We’re going to review all our options,” Martin Hannigan, a partner at GME Development, said Monday.

Hannigan declined further comment.

In recent weeks, residents of the canyon have waged mounting opposition against the project. Many residents have said they would rather see the developer build homes on the 24.5-acre site off Santa Ana Canyon Road and Via Cortez.

Anaheim’s General Plan designates about 21 acres of the ranch site for housing and about four acres for commercial use.

Concerned Citizens of the Canyon, founded to fight the project, submitted petitions to the council signed by 1,500 residents opposed to the project.

Debbie O’Neill, president of the group, said residents are elated the project won’t be built.

“The residents of Anaheim Hills felt it was not the development for the area,” O’Neill said. “It’s zoned residential, and we hope it remains residential.”