Costa Mesa to look at College Park housing plans
The Costa Mesa Planning Commission will discuss controversial plans to replace a College Park commercial center with a multi-story housing development during a special meeting Monday.
The project’s applicant, Newport Beach-based Sheldon Development LLC, is seeking city approval to demolish the existing two-story building at 440 Fair Drive to make way for 28 residential units on the property.
The development proposed for the 1.66-acre site includes eight detached units and 20 duplex units in multi-level buildings that would be 33 and 37.5 feet tall, respectively.
The duplex units would include rooftop decks.
Steve Sheldon, the developer’s chief executive, said the project at the intersection of Fair and Carnegie Avenue will eliminate an aging and blighted commercial building and “provide high-quality housing for Costa Mesa families” while increasing property values.
Nearby residents are pushing back against the proposal, however, saying the dense building project doesn’t fit with the character of the College Park neighborhood, will snarl traffic in the area and create parking problems on nearby residential streets.
During last Monday’s Planning Commission meeting, numerous College Park denizens packed City Hall to speak against the project — which was pulled off that agenda and delayed a week so commissioners could focus instead on numerous permit applications for sober-living homes.
Recently, other residents have sent letters or emails to the commission outlining their objections to the proposal.
“There could be serious and, possibly, deadly situations as a result of the proposed, inappropriate development in College Park,” community resident Judy Booth wrote to the city earlier this month. “When high-density, multistory units are built along Carnegie drivers will start cutting through neighborhood streets that were never designed for that kind of traffic or for that volume of traffic.”
Kevin McDavid, a 34-year College Park resident, wrote that keeping the site commercially zoned or rezoning it for single-story homes would both make more sense than allowing dense housing.
“High-density housing makes absolutely no sense,” he wrote the city in October. “Please reconsider what this development will do to us. Once it’s built, it’s forever.”
Sheldon said the new homes would reduce traffic to and from the site, as residential properties typically generate fewer car trips than commercial uses. The project also provides 117 parking spaces on site, all but five of those are in garages or on driveways.
“There is a sincerely held, but incorrect view that there is going to be significant cut-through traffic through their neighborhoods,” Sheldon said Friday.
Rather than ruling on the project Monday, city staff is recommending the Planning Commission direct the developer to meet again with local residents and see if there’s a way to address their concerns.
There are also code violations at the existing commercial center that should be addressed before the project moves forward, according to staff.
Businesses currently at the center include Hotties Pizza, small offices and several spas and massage parlors.
In 2011, police raids visited the parlors, which were suspected to be prostitution fronts. No arrests were made. The property has also housed medical marijuana dispensaries.
Monday’s special Planning Commission meeting starts at 6 p.m. in City Hall, 77 Fair Drive.
Twitter: @LukeMMoney
