Meeting on Office Tower Draws 300

With speakers waiting by the dozens, the Santa Ana City Council on Monday heard hours of impassioned pleas both for and against a 37-story downtown office tower that would dramatically alter the city’s skyline.

One Broadway Plaza would be Orange County’s tallest building and at least twice as tall as any structure in Santa Ana. For months, residents in the neighborhoods that ring downtown and in the city as a whole have been divided over the tower.

Proponents expect the $60-million to $80-million project and the tower’s future tenants to bring jobs and prestige to a city dominated by government agencies and services aimed at its large immigrant population.

“We’ve been talking about creating a metropolitan center in Orange County and making Santa Ana that center. I want to live in a city like that,” said Victoria Betancourt, one of about 300 who attended the meeting.

“This project is a step in the right direction. It will be good for us economically. It will help cure the blight we are facing.”

However, critics raised concerns that 37 floors of shimmering glass would cast an ugly shadow over the city’s low-lying, decades-old office buildings and that the estimated 2,000 new office workers would cause traffic problems.

The increased congestion, many argued, will endanger students at the nearby Orange County High School of the Arts.

“It is not too late for you to be smart,” said Donna Jensen, the mother of twins who hope to be admitted to the school. “You can help this city greatly by simply planning this better.... The place [for this building] is not in the middle of these schools and neighborhoods.”

To address the traffic fears, the City Council has drawn up an agreement that would require the project developer, Michael Harrah, to pay $12.7 million for an extensive overhaul of the area around the building site. Much of the money would be used to add traffic lights, one-way streets, and new lanes to roads. Six area neighborhoods would also receive $200,000 each to ease congestion problems.

“This building would change the face of the city forever,” said Mignonne Profant, a 10-year resident of nearby Floral Park. “You don’t build just one of these buildings -- you start with one and then a cluster forms. I didn’t buy my house in Santa Ana with the intent of living in downtown Los Angeles.”

The development agreement would also require Harrah to prove he can fill at least half of the building before he can receive building permits. The city may reject potential tenants.

In an interview before the meeting, Harrah said he already has tentative commitments from major companies that would fill more than two-thirds of the tower.

He declined to name the companies but said they deal in public utilities, insurance and manufacturing.

Harrah said he expects the traffic improvements to take about a year and construction of the building an additional 18 months.

Federico Castelan Sayre, an attorney who spoke at the meeting in support of the tower, said in an interview that he planned to move his law firm into at least one floor of the building. “If they build it,” he said, “I will come.”

The road leading to council approval has been anything but smooth for Harrah.

Two weeks ago, the council agreed to delay its vote while the state attorney general investigated a member’s possible conflict of interest. On Friday, Claudia Alvarez was cleared to cast the decisive vote for the project, despite accepting a $3,200 campaign contribution from Harrah in a failed Assembly bid more than a year ago.

Two other council members -- Mayor Miguel A. Pulido and Brett Franklin -- recused themselves from discussions on the project and abstained from voting, also because of potential conflicts of interest.

And Harrah himself came under fire last week for letters from Santa Ana residents he submitted to the city to demonstrate support for the tower. A Times survey of 50 people who reportedly signed the form letter indicated that many did not understand what they were signing, signed blank pages or did not sign the letter. Six- to 13-year-olds were among the signers.

Harrah defended the letters from children -- saying that opponents had used their own children in criticizing the project -- and denied that workers who collected signatures had misled anyone.

The project was expected to be approved. Only one member of the council has publicly opposed the plan.