East Side project denied by council

Andrew Glazer

COSTA MESA -- The City Council voted Monday night to prohibit a developer

from building five homes on an East Side lot in a move designed to

preserve the neighborhood’s character, even though the project didn’t

appear to break any city codes.

After the council’s decision, Newport Beach resident Jim Cefalia said he

wouldn’t have spent $550,000 on the lot at 2087 Garden Lane or an

additional $40,000 on planning the project had he known the city would

reject his proposal.

“It’s unfair for them to change the rules midway through the game,” he

said. “The city planning staff was sympathetic to the project all along.”

The council’s 3-1 vote -- Heather Somers abstained to avoid a conflict of

interest because she lives near the project -- came before it was

scheduled to vote on a proposed temporary freeze on new single-lot,

multi-home developments on the East Side.

Somers previously said she supported the moratorium.

City officials and some residents have complained that “cookie-cutter”

style housing tracts are sprouting up on lots that once held unique,

single-family homes.

As of press time, the council had yet to vote on the moratorium.

Mayor Gary Monahan, who cast the only vote in favor of Cefalia’s project,

said he was afraid the city would have no legal standing if the developer

chose to appeal the council’s decision.

“He did everything we asked him to do,” Monahan said. “It’s as if I went

and asked the city if I could build a swimming pool in my backyard, and

they said ‘yes,’ and I dug a hole and poured in the cement. And then

later, the city says ‘fill it back up.’ ”

Other developers also spoke out in favor of the project.

“We can live within the rules,” said Skip Ziccardi, who said he

considered purchasing the land last year. “I just need to know what they

are.”

But Councilwoman Linda Dixon said each project should be looked at

separately. She said the Garden Lane development would clash with homes

already built on the East Side.

“We hear more and more people like backyards and gardens,” she said,

countering that Cefalia’s plans did not call for sufficient yard space.

She and Councilman Joe Erickson also expressed concerns that cars from

the new homes would gobble up scarce street parking.

Cefalia and his lawyer, Roger Grable, said they did not yet know how they

would respond to the council’s decision.