Costa Mesa officials to tour Home Ranch

Jennifer Kho

COSTA MESA -- City Council members and residents looking for a better

understanding of the proposed Home Ranch project will get the chance to

see the site Friday.

“It’s always good to eyeball things,” said Paul Freeman, spokesman for

C.J. Segerstrom & Sons, owner of the property. “It’s always good to see

things firsthand and to understand what the physical constraints are,

what the line-of-sight issues are and just what some of the possibilities

are. I think it will be useful.”

Home Ranch, a 93-acre project originally scheduled for Planning

Commission review last year, was redesigned to add housing, as well as

reduce building heights and the square-foot density of the proposed

office space.

The modified proposal for the site -- a lima bean farm bordered by the

San Diego Freeway, Fairview Road, Harbor Boulevard and Sunflower Avenue

-- calls for a 308,000-square-foot Ikea furniture store, 791,050 square

feet of office space, 252,648 square feet of industrial business and 464

homes.

Despite the redesign, the project has remained controversial.

Three homeowners associations -- Mesa North Community Assn.,

Halescrest/Hall of Fame Homeowners Assn. and Mesa Del Mar Homeowners

Assn. -- have opposed the project because of worries that the project

could strain police and fire services, as well as increase traffic and

urban runoff.

The organizations also expressed concern about the density of the

proposed housing and the aesthetics of the Ikea.

Robin Leffler, a Mesa Verde resident, said she opposes parts of the

project that are expected to significantly exceed the general plan

requirements for the site, such as traffic generation and the density of

the industrial park.

“I think the citizens tend to think of the general plan as a limit to

the city, but it looks like it is not being looked at as a limit but as a

jumping-off point or a starting point,” she said. “Overdevelopment

affects our quality of life in a lot of ways. It puts pressure on our

housing, degrades our air quality and affects traffic. As far as Home

Ranch and the Ikea are concerned, there are aesthetic considerations.

There could be a big parking lot and a big blue box at the entrance to

our city.”

The city has scheduled three bus tours of the Home Ranch property.

General information about the project and a discussion will also be

included in the tour, said Kimberly Brandt, associate planner for the

city, on Monday.

“We’re going to go out and look at it, look at what is going to be

preserved, such as the farmhouse, and where the Ikea and industrial park

will go,” she said. “It’s a large project, 93 acres and one of the

largest pieces of undeveloped property in the city. There’s a lot of

community interest in the development, and we want to make sure that

whatever goes out there in the best for the community. We want to

evaluate Segerstrom’s perspective from the field. Sometimes, it’s easier

to see when you’re there than when you’re looking at plans.”

The tours will run from 3 to 5 p.m. Friday, 9 to 11 a.m. Monday and

from 9:30 to 11:30 a.m. May 12.

The deadline for tour reservations is Wednesday.

For more information, call (714) 754-5610.