Planners face new conflict on West Side

Elise Gee

COSTA MESA -- A vote on halting development on the West Side was

delayed by a last-minute revelation that three of the city’s five

planning commissioners may have a conflict of interest on any plan for

the area.

The commissioners have been working for the past month to craft a plan to

stop certain developments on the West Side until the City Council

approves a plan on how to revitalize the area.

The city hired EIP Associates a year ago to come up with a plan to

reshape the West Side, which suffers from awkward zoning and rundown

residential and business areas.

City officials expect to review a draft plan in December that could

include recommendations on anything from building a village-like

commercial core at 19th Street and Placentia Avenue to phasing out

industry in certain parts of the West Side.

In the middle of discussions Monday, Commissioner Katie Wilson announced

that she was abstaining because she lives one block from the 19th and

Placentia area -- described by city planner Mike Robinson as a critical

intersection in the West Side Specific Plan.

Following Wilson’s announcement, Chairman Walt Davenport raised concerns

that two more commissioners, himself included, also had conflicts of

interest. Davenport and Commissioner Chris Fewel both own property on the

West Side.

“I’m a little surprised that it’s coming up at such late notice,” Fewel

said. “We’ve been discussing this for four weeks now.”

Fewel had brought up the idea of revisiting the possibility of a

moratorium for the West Side in September because, he said, consultants

were closer to completing the draft specific plan.

Commissioners say they are concerned that developments have, or will be,

approved that conflict with what the West Side plan eventually will

recommend. For example, the planning commission and city council

struggled earlier this year with approving a mini-warehouse project in

the bluffs area and an auto shop in the Placentia Avenue and 19th Street

area.

Commissioners have been working to come up with a finely crafted

moratorium that would target specific uses and geographical areas on the

West Side.

Two more public input meetings are scheduled for the next month with the

Latino and the business communities, which have both complained about

being left out of the process.

The draft specific plan is expected to go before the commission and the

City Council in December.

Commissioners asked Assistant City Attorney Tom Wood to research whether

they would have conflicts of interest if they voted on the moratorium.

They also questioned whether some of the commissioners could even vote on

the draft specific plan when it came before them.

Wood said he would need more time to research the matter.

“To bring something up at this stage isn’t the best time for this to

evolve,” he said.