Plan for 142 housing units at Trinity Broadcasting Network HQ blessed by commission
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A plan to build 142 townhouses and single family residences on what once served as headquarters for the Trinity Broadcasting Network will soon ascend to the Costa Mesa City Council after a recent blessing from city planning commissioners.
Commissioners reviewed the proposal, put forth by developer Meritage Homes Irvine office, to fully build out the 6.12-acre parcel, located at 3150 Bear Street, just south of the 405 Freeway.
Initially reviewed by the Costa Mesa City Council in September, the plan includes 20 detached family homes along the southern and eastern sides of the property, with 122 stacked flats of varying configurations toward the center and a single vehicle access point at Bear across from the city’s Shiffer Park.
If approved, the project would provide roughly 2.13 acres of public and private open space, including rooftop balconies on some units and private backyards in the single family homes. The applicant has also agreed to pay the city $250,000 for park improvements of the park.
A second access point, onto the residential Olympic Avenue at the northeast corner of the site, would be open only to pedestrians and emergency vehicles, and would allow existing residents to the east to cut through the Meritage project to get to Shiffer Park.
Commissioners in a July 14 meeting considered several entitlements for the proposal, including a general plan amendment to transition and rezone the property from commercial use to high-density residential. The property qualifies for rezoning under Costa Mesa’s Measure K.
In exchange for a state density bonus — and the additional 20 units that would allow — Meritage has agreed to designate seven residences for very-low income owners. Each unit would have a two-car, tandem parking garage, while the site would provide an additional 35 guest parking spaces.
Vanessa Scheidel, a project manager for the Irvine office, told commissioners the development will create an opportunity to provide “missing middle housing” for young families and individuals seeking to transition from a rental scenario, but who may not yet be able to afford a single-family home.
“The stacked flats proposed for Bear Street are designed to offer a middle ground between apartments and traditional, row-style townhomes to provide a greater affordability and an opportunity for first-time homebuyers,” Scheidel said.
At least a dozen residents, most of them residing in homes surrounding the TBN property, shared their concerns of increased car traffic on Bear Street and the possibility that the new site would result in overflow parking from residents and their guests.
Resident John Frazier said streets in the area were already burdened with overflow parking from nearby developments, as neighborhoods are situated in between South Coast Plaza, Metro Pointe and areas that provide no residential parking.
“Now what’s being proposed is ‘pedestrian access’ back into our neighborhood. That’s clearly a guise of additional access to the park — it’s really additional parking for the [Meritage] community,” he said. “We are stressed to the max with parking, and we cannot have pedestrian access or egress into our neighborhood.”
Other residents complained the proposed stacked townhomes, towering at 52 feet, would overshadow the surrounding one-story homes and negatively impact the area.
“When we purchased our home some 20 years ago we had a degree of privacy in the backyard. That will completely disappear with this mammoth structure,” said Charles Chappell, whose property sits adjacent to the project side. “The next thing to disappear will be our property value — who wants to purchase a home that backs to a 52-foot structure?”
Commissioners, however, supported the Meritage plan, indicating the detached homes along the perimeter of the property would provide a more than 100-foot buffer between existing homes and the townhouses.
They further praised the signalized intersection near the vehicle entrance and enhanced access for current neighbors to Shiffer Park, along with the rare opportunity of a developer providing an ownership opportunity for seven very-low income households.
“We are in a housing crisis. We, quite simply, need more housing, and that is what this project proposes,” said Commissioner David Martinez. “I don’t even know if we’ve ever done for-sale affordable units before — that’s amazing to see we’re providing that opportunity for very-low income families to be able to own a home.”
Commissioner Angely Andrade Vallarta said the project provided an option for renters, who account for 60% of Costa Mesa’s population, a chance to own a home inside the city.
“As a city, we need to respond to our larger community,” she said. “I think it might just be an opportunity to be open to providing the opportunities that many [current] property owners have had, to provide that to the generation that is following us right behind you.”
With 5-0 approval by the commission (Vice Chair Jon Zich and Commissioner Rob Dickson were absent), the proposal could go before the City Council as soon as Aug. 5.
