Business park group wants approval of youth arts program overturned
An association representing local business owners is asking the Costa Mesa City Council to overturn a Planning Commission decision to allow a youth arts program to move into a business park next to John Wayne Airport.
In dispute is a proposal from the Arts & Learning Conservatory — an educational nonprofit organization that offers performing arts and musical theater classes — to buy space in the business park at 3184 Airway Ave.
The Planning Commission unanimously approved the proposal June 13.
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Members of the Koll-Irvine Community Assn., which encompasses the business park located south of the 405 Freeway next to the airport, objected to the idea at the Planning Commission meeting last month and appealed to the council June 17.
Michael Leifer, a lawyer who is representing the association, wrote in the appeal that the commission’s decision “was improper and an abuse of discretion.”
In an earlier letter to the Planning Commission detailing the association’s objections, he wrote that the conservatory “is simply not compatible with the business park, the rights of the association or the rights of its members.”
“In short, they don’t mix,” he wrote in the letter, dated June 13.
Some business owners in the park sent letters urging the commission to deny the project, saying it would put further stress on parking in the area.
The conservatory envisions using the space, Suite A, to host a summer day camp and up to six theatrical productions on weekends throughout the year. It also would be used for administrative purposes and the conservatory’s after-school programs.
The space has been used by Berean Community Church, which plans to relocate.
In approving the project, the Planning Commission concluded that having performances on up to six weekends would create less parking impact than the church, which has weekly services.
“It’s a better option for the area as a whole as far as the parking impacts are concerned,” Commissioner Stephan Andranian said at the time.
City Council members will consider the appeal Tuesday. The meeting starts at 5:45 p.m. at City Hall, 77 Fair Drive.
The Arts & Learning Conservatory is not the first project that has drawn the ire of the Koll-Irvine Community Assn.
Last month, the organization filed a lawsuit seeking to overturn a council vote in March that cleared the way for the Ismailis, a branch of Shia Islam, to open a 6,000-square-foot center at 3184 Airway Ave., Suite J.
The lawsuit alleges the council’s action — which overturned a Planning Commission denial of the proposed center — violates property rights by giving privileges to the Ismaili center not enjoyed by other tenants.
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Luke Money, lucas.money@latimes.com
Twitter: @LukeMMoney
