Residents raise concerns about Home Ranch project

Elise Gee

COSTA MESA -- Residents who live near the proposed Home Ranch development

expressed fears Wednesday that the project could worsen already

significant traffic problems for them.

The meeting was held to gather community input for a report on the

environmental impact being prepared for the 93-acre project, bordered

roughly by the San Diego Freeway, Fairview Road, Sunflower Avenue and

Harbor Boulevard.

C.J. Segerstrom & Sons is asking for a General Plan Amendment from the

city to increase the amount of development currently allowed.

The land is now zoned for medium-density residential and industrial uses.

Segerstrom would like that zoning changed to allow for more development.

If the general plan amendment is not granted, development on the property

would be limited to the two-story 300,000-square-foot IKEA store that is

planned for the southwest corner of the property, Segerstrom spokesman

Paul Freeman has said.

Under maximum density standards, traffic could increase from 9,365

average daily trips to 33,845 daily trips, according to staff reports.

However, Freeman has said that Segerstrom does not plan to propose the

maximum build-out that could be allowed. What the developer is proposing

in addition to the IKEA store is nearly 2 million square feet of office

and retail buildings, which would be no more than nine stories tall.

Current zoning allows for buildings up to five stories tall.

Armed with horror stories of close calls and speeding traffic in their

neighborhoods, residents who live near the project were adamant Wednesday

that they did not want to see any increases.

Bob Sterling, who lives in The Woods, said that the combination of

traffic generated by the Automobile Club of Southern California, Metro

Pointe, the Office Buildings at South Coast Metro have taken their toll.

Sterling said he expects the remodeling of the former Crystal Court and

the proposed Home Ranch project will only make it worse.

Kirstie Macintosh, who also lives near the proposed project, said she

worked with the city in the past to improve traffic issues in her

neighborhood.

“Now I see this project and I feel like calling a real estate agent and

saying, ‘Get us out of here quick,’ ” she said.

Segerstrom plans to build an offramp from the San Diego Freeway to Susan

Street, which the developer estimate would divert between 3,500 to 4,500

cars from Fairview Road and Harbor Boulevard each day. The exit would

come off a future offramp of the San Diego Freeway that would start

approximately at the current South Coast Drive exit and end at Harbor

Boulevard.

Resident Gilbert Collins said he thought Segerstrom’s proposal is much

better than the 32-story high-rise proposed by the company for the same

site more than a decade ago. That proposal was opposed both in the courts

and politically by residents.

Collins, however, did raise concerns about a 150-foot illuminated sign by

the freeway proposed by IKEA. Collins and many of his neighbors opposed

an 85-foot Harbor Boulevard of Cars sign proposed last year and said they

would definitely oppose anything higher.

The initial study and notice of preparation for the project will be

available for review through Sept. 7. It is expected that the draft

environmental impact report will be ready in October with public hearings

beginning in November.