Costa Mesa Planning Commission recommends new rules for small lots

It took time and deliberation, but Costa Mesa planning commissioners eventually endorsed a set of proposed changes to the city’s controversial small-lot ordinance.

The panel’s recommendations — approved on a 3-1 vote Thursday with Chairman Stephan Andranian opposed — now head to the City Council for further review and final action.

Among the commission’s agreed-upon tweaks were setting the minimum lot size for small-lot projects at 7,260 square feet, prohibiting alley-facing units, boosting the overall open space needed and requiring greater distance between buildings.

The small-lot ordinance, which was adopted in 2014, was designed to ease development standards for proposals of 15 or fewer detached homes in areas zoned for multifamily units.

The commission’s decision differs from earlier direction in February, when the City Council directed staff to draft a code amendment to modify development standards for projects processed under the ordinance to make them consistent with those for common-interest developments, such as condominiums.

However, commissioners — both Thursday and during a previous hearing in April — said they were concerned those standards might be too stringent. Their preference instead was a middle ground that increases some requirements for small-lot projects, but not to the extent outlined in the common-interest development standards.

They also recommended creating additional standards regarding driveway and lot width on certain properties — specifically “flag lots” with long driveways and those that are accessible via an alley.

“I don’t think the small-lot ordinance is all that bad,” said Commissioner Carla Navarro Woods. “It provides a different kind of housing option for our community; it increases home ownership. Those are all really good things. The problems that I have with it … have been the reduction in open space and the reduction in privacy.”

Vice Chairman Byron de Arakal said he thinks “the small-lot ordinance is working,” but that he too favored increasing some open space and setback requirements.

Setting a higher lot-size threshold, he added, may help address some community concerns about projects appearing overly dense.

Andranian, however, said he was worried that boosting the lot size requirement could lead to development of more rental units instead of single-family residences on slighter lots — “essentially neutering the intent and kind of defeating the purpose of the small-lot ordinance.”

Speakers urged the commission to take a different approach still: either leave the ordinance alone, or scrap it entirely.

Critics said that it has allowed overly dense, unattractive and scattershot building that’s changed the character of local neighborhoods and created problems with traffic and parking.

Supporters, however, said the ordinance provides property owners flexibility to redevelop or renovate their land and potentially create additional housing.

Andranian pointed out that, according to staff, the city has approved 165 units under the small-lot ordinance and that those projects combined will create 54 net additional units — with some existing units cleared to make way for new ones.

“When we’re talking about increasing density, and the fact that parking is a problem in your neighborhood, I find it difficult to believe that 54 units in the entire city of Costa Mesa has contributed to all of those problems and the small-lot ordinance is to blame for all these problems,” he said. “It defies logic to maintain that position.”

Commissioner Jeffrey Harlan called those added units “literally a drop in the bucket.”

“I don’t see this ordinance being any kind of failure … I don’t see it being a tremendous success, ” he said. “I see it as being a tool that is potentially available to property owners. Whether they want to use it or not; it’s up to them.”

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