Costa Mesa standards under attack

Lolita Harper

COSTA MESA -- Planning Commissioners will take a closer look at

changes to various city development standards Tuesday after homeowner

Michael Schrock charged they were directly targeted at him and his Cecil

Place home.

Planning staff has recommended a dozen “minor” changes to standards

governing everything from land use to antennas, with alterations to

residential, commercial, industrial and planned developments singled out

for further review.

At last week’s Planning Commission meeting, Commissioner Katrina Foley

said she was not sure how the proposed changes would affect developers

such as Schrock. She said she would not be comfortable supporting them

until she had clarification.

“Mr. Schrock raised some very good questions that at the very least

deserve to get some answers,” Foley said.

At the meeting, Schrock charged that tweaks to the city codes directly

targeted his proposed project at 252 Cecil Place. That project, which

would add two houses on an 18,000-square-foot lot, has been the center of

a heated neighborhood debate.

Schrock and business partner Fritz Howser have gone in circles with

planning staff, the Planning Commission, the City Council and neighbors,

altering their proposed project according to various recommendations. A

rezoning permit was ultimately denied and the developers chose the option

to subdivide the unusually large lot into three.

Each lot will be about 6,400 square feet, and Schrock will reduce the

backyard of the existing house to 20 feet to accommodate the larger lots.

Once divided, each lot will be considered low-density residential use --

R-1, as planners call it.

The latest subdivision proposal has been filed with the city but has

not come before any legislative bodies.

During the hearings on Schrock’s development, council members were

concerned the city did not mandate that houses face the street. According

to a staff report, newly created residential lots would be required to

have street frontage under the modified code.

Perry Valantine, Costa Mesa’s director of planning, said Schrock’s

property would not be affected. Schrock is protected under state law that

requires that his application be reviewed according to the rules in

effect at the time it was filed.

Planning Commissioners Eleanor Egan and Walter Davenport emphasized

the proposed changes would effect new lots and developments, and not

existing ones.

“I can’t imagine that it would have any affect on parts of the city

that are already developed,” Egan said.

FYI

What: Costa Mesa Planning Commission study session

When: 6:30 p.m. Tuesday

Where: 5th Floor Conference Room, City Hall, 77 Fair Drive

Information: (714) 754-5160