BREA

The City Council this week upheld the Planning Commission’s approval to expand a computer lab in the Carbon Canyon area, but agreed to review the ordinance allowing laboratories near residential neighborhoods. Ronald Isles, a former Brea mayor and planning commissioner who lives in Olinda Village, asked the council to reverse the commission’s decision to let CKC Labs build two small buildings and an open field test site on Olinda Place.

The lab tests computer equipment to make sure the devices comply with federal standards. City staff determined the expansion would have no negative impact on the neighborhood.

Isles argued that the area, zoned as neighborhood commercial, should be earmarked for a community shopping center because the isolated Carbon Canyon area will become developed and there will be a greater need for retail stores, he said. Although they allowed CKC to continue with its project, council members said they would like to review the ambiguous neighborhood commercial zone, which permits both retail and lab use, and perhaps revise it to exclude laboratories.