Town Center still unsettled

Jennifer Kho

COSTA MESA -- Instead of the long-awaited end to a Town Center project

dispute, Monday’s City Council meeting could result in an 18-month

postponement.

Commonwealth Partners, one of the project’s developers, has requested

the continuance, while the city’s staff is recommending that the council

postpone a decision on the request until staff members can evaluate it,

Assistant City Atty. Tom Wood said Thursday.

“They want that time to have the Theater Arts District plan be drafted

and approved and to pursue their final master plan for their site,” he

said. “We’ll have to wait and see what the council does before we know

where we’re going.”

The council will review the request Monday.

Phil Schwartze, spokesman for Commonwealth, said the developer has

agreed to maintain the California Scenario sculpture garden for 50 years,

but the company disagrees with other parts of its development agreement

with the city.

The council approved requirements that the developer provide money and

parking for the Theater Arts District. However, a plan for the district

has yet to be drafted, and Commonwealth said it can’t agree to an unknown

amount of money and parking.

“The wording has no cap on the amount we might be asked to spend on

the TAD plan,” Schwartze said. “It says we will spend whatever money that

is. Is it $10,000? $10 million? I don’t know and no one else does,

either, because the study hasn’t been done.

“We’re also concerned about the amount of parking because we have

leases with existing tenants that guarantee a certain number of parking

spaces, and we don’t want to be in the position of violating the leases,”

Schwartze continued. “If we can just agree on fixed numbers, we can make

those issues go away.”

The developer had previously suggested a cap of $1.3 million as its

contribution for the Theater Arts District plan.

The request for a continuance had not been released by press time, and

council members, who had not yet seen the letter, declined to comment.

The Town Center project, a collaboration between Commonwealth, the

Orange County Performing Arts Center and South Coast Partners -- the

owner of South Coast Plaza -- seeks to transform South Coast Metro into a

pedestrian-oriented cultural arts district bordered by Bristol Street,

Sunflower Avenue, Avenue of the Arts and the San Diego Freeway.

The other parts of the project were approved earlier this year, but

Commonwealth’s portion has constantly been delayed largely because of a

disagreement about the length of time the developer would be required to

maintain Isamu Noguchi’s California Scenario sculpture garden and how

much public parking it would have to provide for the garden.

After months of intense negotiations -- starting with the council

requesting maintenance for 25 years and then “in perpetuity” -- the

council gave preliminary approval May 21 to an agreement requiring the

developer to maintain the garden for 50 years.

The developer is already prohibited from destroying the garden but is

not required to maintain it.

Although Commonwealth has said it has no interest in developing over

the garden, some residents, art experts and Councilwoman Linda Dixon have

spoken adamantly in favor of requiring protection for the garden forever.

The rest of Commonwealth’s portion of the project, which includes

office space and restaurants, was scheduled to be reviewed by the council

Monday for preliminary approval while the development agreement was

expected to receive final approval.

Cindy Brenneman, a Costa Mesa resident, said she thinks a long delay

would be a shame.

“I was disappointed when we didn’t get ‘in perpetuity,’ but I was

willing to accept the 50-year agreement and was pretty pleased,” she

said. “So it would be a shame to see the whole thing go away after the

amount of time everybody has put into it. It’s been a lot of work. But if

it does go away, it does and maybe it will come back better.”

FYI

WHAT: Costa Mesa City Council meeting

WHERE: Costa Mesa City Hall, 77 Fair Drive

WHEN: 6:30 p.m. Monday

INFORMATION: (714) 754-5223