Council allows new houses to replace shops at El Camino

Jennifer Kho

COSTA MESA -- In the absence of any speakers against a plan to convert

the rundown El Camino Shopping Center into single-family houses, the City

Council paved the way Monday for the project to proceed.

“I’ll support this,” Mayor Libby Cowan said. “I think it is the right

thing to do for the community. The shopping center is fully past its

prime.”

The council rezoned the Mesa Del Mar site on El Camino Drive from

neighborhood commercial to medium-density residential, allowing the

owners to build between 19 and 29 homes on the site, which is surrounded

by single-family homes, apartment buildings and an office building.

Developer El Camino Partners LLC has not yet submitted a specific

plan, and the design for the site will depend on new housing development

standards the city is working on.

The council extended a moratorium last month on new, two-story,

single-family developments and second-story additions in all residential

areas in the city while it works on the new housing development codes.

Final designs for the El Camino project will be reviewed by the

Planning Commission and the City Council after the standards are

approved.

The Planning Commission approved the plan Feb. 26 before an audience

that spoke only in favor of the plan.

Since December, neighboring residents, customers and shop owners have

expressed strong opinions for and against the proposed change, after the

council agreed to consider the project during a screening process.

The council decision Monday could be the last word in a heated

neighborhood debate.

The Mesa Del Mar Homeowners Assn. fervently favors the plans, and

representatives spoke in support of the project at the council meeting,

saying it will beautify the neighborhood and make it a safer place.

Supporters have previously submitted a petition to the city.

“I think it only makes sense,” Allan Mansoor of Costa Mesa said. “It

will be a benefit and big improvement.”

Apartment renters and shop owners have petitioned against the project

and have said they rely on the center for food, supplies and laundry

services. They did not speak at any previous city meetings and were

expected to speak Monday. Many are nonnative English speakers and the

city had a translator on hand to accommodate them.