Report: Home Ranch good for $2.4 million annually

Andrew Glazer

COSTA MESA -- A proposed office complex and furniture store could bring

the city as much as $2.4 million and the school district $1.6 million in

tax revenues each year, according to a report made public by the

project’s developer Thursday.

But a spokesman for builder C.J. Segerstrom & Sons agreed with city

officials who said the numbers are very rough.

“People will say it’s self-serving, and it is,” said Segerstrom’s Paul

Freeman. “But we did err on the conservative side.”

For example, he said, Segerstrom-hired consultants say the project would

produce $1.6 million annually for the school district. Freeman said that

figure would probably be lower because the consultants overestimated the

number of students the project would draw to local schools.

The IKEA furniture store and nearly 2 million square feet of office space

could bring as many as 8,000 new employees to the 93-acre site, according

to the report.

“But who’s to say they’re all going to live here?” Freeman noted. “And

not everyone will have children. And those who do might send them to

private schools.”

City Councilman Joe Erickson said even if the project does generate as

much sales tax revenue as consultants predicted, the city may never see a

penny. He pointed out that some state legislators are pushing for cities

to relinquish all sales tax revenues to the state.

“I don’t think it will happen this year,” Erickson said. “But if it does,

it could negate anything that could be gained from the project.”

The proposed Home Ranch site is a lima bean field between Fairview Road

and Harbor Boulevard, just north of the San Diego Freeway.

The city originally designated the land for homes and small industry. But

C.J. Segerstrom & Sons is asking the city to allow construction of the

17-acre home furnishings store and large office complex there.

The project has met with opposition from many in the neighborhood and the

financial figures don’t appear to be changing that.

“We’re still standing firm against it,” said Brent Neumeyer, a

Halecrest-Hall of Fame resident.

He and other residents living near the site say the development would

produce more traffic on their residential streets, which would produce

more smog.

“This will show where the allegiance of city government lies -- with the

taxpayers who elect them, or the people with the most bucks,” Neumeyer

said.