STEVE SMITH -- What’s up

A few years ago, developers did a U-turn and came back to the county’s

interior to build on small parcels of land that dot the county. In some

cases the land is undeveloped. In other cases, old structures are being

torn down for new developments, which maximize the available space.

Developing these city parcels is known as “infill.” In Costa Mesa, you

can see the results of infill at the corner of Adams Avenue and Fairview

Road, where a tract of Lyon homes sits. And about a mile away, right next

to the Mesa Verde shopping center, Standard-Pacific is putting the

finishing touches on several dozen homes for which they fought hard to

construct.

Three years ago, when ICI Development wanted to raze the decrepit

Harbor Center, it met with similar opposition. But ICI’s Scott Bell was

determined to keep the matter out of the courts and worked with his

neighbors to meet as many of the demands as possible. ICI spread money

around to affected homeowners to provide soundproofing upgrades to their

homes, but whether the homeowners used it solely for that reason is

anybody’s guess.

Today, Harbor Center is beautiful and bustling. Steve Fox, whose home

is the closest one to the center’s loading docks, told me recently that

noise is not a problem. Anyone in the building industry who’s getting on

the infill bandwagon should have lunch with Bell to learn how to be a

good neighbor and why it’s so important. If nothing else, Bell saved a

ton of dough by avoiding lawyer’s fees. The option there was to give the

money to lawyers or give it to future neighbors.

Over at Home Ranch, the Segerstrom family wants to use their land to

build some offices, some homes and a really big retail store called Ikea.

Although it remains to be seen whether the store will go up, the

Segerstroms have already started to be a good neighbor.

The Segerstroms are smart enough to know that Home Ranch will have an

effect on the surrounding community. They’ve never denied that. But in an

attempt to reduce the effect, they offered cash, $2 million to be exact,

to local schools. Some folks immediately cried “Bribe!” But the fact is

that their offer was no different than the money ICI spent on improving

the homes around Harbor Center. And it’s a lot more than many other

developers do for their neighbors.

Besides, if the Segerstroms wanted to bribe anyone, they’re smart

enough not to issue a press release to announce it.

And it is curious that only a long walk from Home Ranch, the massive

new headquarters for Experian is rising up out of former farmland. The

offices are long, low, three-story buildings with the appropriate parking

structures nearby. If you’ve driven past the junction of the San Diego

and Costa Mesa freeways, you’ve probably seen it on the north side of the

road.

I don’t recall nearly as much debate over Experian’s new digs as I am

reading now about Home Ranch. And as far as I know, Experian hasn’t spent

a dime on any local schools to offset the local effect of its presence,

which will be mighty.

True, you and I will not profit from Home Ranch. But we should not

begrudge the Segerstroms their ability to make a profit as long as they

play by the rules.

I don’t know about Home Ranch. Part of me likes the farmland and part

of me understands that development there is inevitable. But all of me

believes that the Segerstrom family wants to negotiate in good faith. And

the $2 million, like any other card in the negotiating deck, should be

considered as part of the package they are presenting. Removing the money

from consideration in the debate is silly, like ignoring a minivan parked

in your living room.

And as infill continues, money such as this will be an important

precedent in future development negotiations.

In the end, we may be deciding whether we give $2 million to schools

or to lawyers.

* STEVE SMITH is a Costa Mesa resident and freelance writer. Readers

may leave a message for him on the Daily Pilot hotline at (949) 642-6086.