Decision is on Target for late-night vote

Andrew Glazer

COSTA MESA -- The Planning Commission decided Monday to hear all 34 of a

resident’s reasons for why a Target store’s plans are bad for the

neighborhood.

The decision extended the meeting late into the night, with commissioners

expecting to vote on the project no matter how long discussions took.

Al Morelli, who owns two homes on Shamrock Lane next to the proposed

17-acre site of the discount store, had asked the commissioners to delay

their decision for two weeks.

But Jeffrey S. Haber -- attorney for the project’s developer, Dayton

Hudson Corp. -- along with city planners, said the Target store would

conform with city codes and developers are ready to move ahead.

Morelli and his attorney last week submitted a 51-page report detailing

why the commission should give the project at 3030 Harbor Blvd. further

study.

Residents on Shamrock Lane would be bothered by slamming doors and

ringing car alarms from the Target store if the developer did not plant

trees and build a mound to block out the noise, the report said.

But commissioners did not see the report until Friday, leaving them only

the weekend to read through the highly technical document.

Simone Wong-Easum, Morelli’s attorney, said the delay was caused when the

city’s planning staff forgot to notify her and her client about a

commission study session last week. Wong-Easum said she would have handed

out the report at the study session.

Planner Perry Valantine conceded the mistake, but said the commission had

enough time to look through the report.

“I know you all read it carefully over the weekend,” responded

Wong-Easum, raising her eyebrows to punctuate her ironic tone.

But at 8:30 p.m., in a 3-2 vote, the commissioners decided to carry on

with the discussion, even after Morelli told them he would need two hours

to voice his appeal. And he was first in a line of nearly a dozen other

residents waiting to speak out against the project.

Haber said he only needed five minutes to state his case.

“I don’t know if it would be any different in two weeks,” said Walt

Davenport, commission chairman.

Commissioners Katie Wilson and Katrina Foley disagreed, however, and

voted to delay the decision.

“I don’t want to dismiss the amount of effort [Morelli] put into his

appeal,” Wilson said. “I just don’t feel comfortable doing that.”