INSIDE CITY HALL Here are the items...

INSIDE CITY HALL

Here are the items the commission discussed Monday:

REVIEW OF PLANNING APPLICATION

The commission considered changing some requirements for the

Prince of Peace School in response to neighbors’ concerns that school

officials are violating city rules.

In 1999, the commission approved an application that allowed the

church to install four modular buildings for a school. Since then,

neighbors have complained about the church’s planting of ficus trees

without city approval, letting more preschoolers on the site than

allowed and using the walkway next to the Baker Street driveway.

WHAT HAPPENED

The commission continued the item until Dec. 8 to give the church

more time to examine a condition that requires it to indemnify the

city against potential lawsuits stemming from damage related to the

ficus trees.

WHAT WAS SAID

“We had quite a bit of debate of how it should be worded, and it

was clear there wasn’t enough time to have it worded properly, so the

church was comfortable with it,” Chairman Bruce Garlich said.

CHANGE TO

MASTER PLAN

The commission considered a request from IKEA to change the Home

Ranch master plan and the North Costa Mesa Specific Plan to allow

construction of a new parking lot for its business at 1475 South

Coast Drive. This item was continued from the meeting of Oct. 13.

In November 2001, when the project was approved, 1,520 parking

spaces were proposed. But changes made to the parking lot during

construction resulted in there being only 1,430 parking spaces

available. So IKEA bought the corner property next to its site and

wants to put a parking lot there.

Since this is a substantial change of use from the offices that

were approved for this site under the Home Ranch master plan, review

of the change is required.

WHAT HAPPENED

The commission unanimously approved the request.

PLANNING APPLICATION

The commission considered a request from resident Gary Johnson to

build a second-floor expansion on a two-story accessory apartment,

with an exception to build the apartment at a greater square footage

than what is allowed.

Planning staff members recommended continuing the item to the Nov.

10 meeting, at Johnson’s request.

WHAT HAPPENED

The commission unanimously approved continuing the item.