Council Reviews Urban Village Plan

Council members on Tuesday reviewed a proposal for an urban village in West Orange that would include houses and corporate buildings on 70 acres.

“I think it’s important that we finally got to a vision for West Orange,” said Mayor Joanne Coontz.

“I think it is just the first stage of it. This is going to be a long project.”

The 70 acres that are tentatively being named Uptown Orange are east of the Block.

The study was designed to establish a framework around which the council, landowners, and other interested parties can begin planning.

Business hotels, urban housing, retail stores and mid-rise office buildings were included in the study, as were two large city landmark signs.

About one-third of the land is vacant with some of the parcel occupied by three hotels, a mobile home park and office condominiums. The former Pacific Drive-In and the Century Cinedome property, which was closed about a year ago, are also vacant.

Linda Boone, economic development director, said the project could take 10 to 15 years and is very tentative at this point.

“We put a plan together and we put some offices here and houses here. That may all change when it is developed,” Boone said.

“What we are trying to get across is a concept of an urban village with those components. How each parcel is actually developed is up to the landowner and developer.”

Boone said the next step for city staff is to recommend to the council that the city conduct the environmental review necessary for any kind of development in that area.

In conjunction with the Uptown Orange project, the city is also strategizing landscaping improvements along West Chapman Avenue from Main Street to the Orange Freeway.

Councilman Mike Spurgeon, who used to live in West Orange, said he has been looking for new development in the area for a long time.

“This is a multiyear project, but we got to have a vision,” Spurgeon said.

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Marissa Espino can be reached at (714) 966-5879.