Council sends developer back to drawing board
Andrew Glazer
COSTA MESA -- The City Council on Monday told a local builder to go back
to the drawing board with its plans for a 90-home development before
taking them to the Planning Commission again.
The commission last month rejected the proposed project in the Mesa Verde
neighborhood, but development company Standard Pacific came before the
council with a revised layout, eliminating a gate, creating a right-turn
lane on Adams Avenue and Mesa Verde East and eliminating one home from
the plan to create more open space.
But some council members and more than two dozen homeowners said the
changes did not address the most profound neighborhood concern -- the
density of the homes.
“I have three children,” said Councilwoman Heather Somers, who does not
live in the neighborhood, “and they need yards to play on. I don’t want
to see this development turn into a place where kids play in the street.
That’s not what makes a nice development.”
Mesa Verde homeowners told the commission last month that the gated
development did not fit the character of the neighborhood. They
complained that the project would flood the streets with cars and flood
its nearest school, Adams Elementary, with children.
Developers objected, saying that the project wouldn’t be profitable with
fewer homes.
Scott D. Stowell, president of Standard Pacific -- one of Orange County’s
largest developers -- asked the council late Friday evening to hold off
on discussing the project. In a letter to the city, Stowell said the
company’s revisions addressed homeowners’ concerns.
Stowell said he wanted the Planning Commission to look over the revisions
before the council decided whether to approve the project.
On Monday, the council directed Standard Pacific to redesign the
development with fewer homes before resubmitting the plans to the
Planning Commission, which is scheduled to discuss the project again at
its April 10 meeting.
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