Dixon withdraws request for additional Home Ranch housing

Lolita Harper

COSTA MESA -- The bellows for more housing on the Home Ranch project

site could not drown out the clamor made by printing presses that border

the parcel of lima bean fields where more homes were proposed.

Councilwoman Linda Dixon on Tuesday withdrew her suggestion to add

more housing to the Home Ranch project, saying the printing presses at

the Los Angeles Times building were too loud to fit near any type of

housing.

“Housing next to the L.A. Times is the exact mixture of incompatible

uses that have created problems in other areas of the city,” Dixon said.

The councilwoman said she visited the site and was shocked by the loud

shrills of the printing presses and the loud clank of metal on metal as

large reams of paper were loaded.

The City Council voted unanimously, 4-0, to withdraw the proposal.

Mayor Libby Cowan said she also visited the 14.5-acre parcel of land

and agreed the location was not suitable for residential use. Westside

residents are already struggling with houses that abut commercial

buildings and industrial sites, Cowan said.

“I would not support a move to consciously re-create a situation that

intentionally creates conflict,” Cowan said.

Council members Chris Steel and Karen Robinson agreed with their

colleagues but expressed a desire to create more owner-occupied housing

somewhere on the site.

During the Nov. 5 meeting, Councilwoman Linda Dixon unexpectedly asked

Paul Freeman, the spokesman for C.J. Segerstrom & Sons, if the developer

would be willing to add more housing to the project and move the current

industrial site farther south.

Freeman said previously that Dixon’s proposal was plausible as long as

the details could be worked out quickly and a decision could be made

before Nov. 19.

After Dixon’s recommendation, city planning staff and the developer

worked to iron out the details of the proposed change. Costa Mesa

Planning Manager Mike Robinson said city staff was running new traffic

models and noise studies to report to the council next week.

The housing change was put on Tuesday’s Planning Commission agenda to

cover all the bases in case of legal challenge. But more than two hours

before it was to be reviewed by the commission, Dixon announced she would

no longer pursue the possibility.

* Lolita Harper covers Costa Mesa. She may be reached at (949)

574-4275 or by e-mail at o7 lolita.harper@latimes.comf7 .