Westside renewal plans approved

COSTA MESA ? The planning commission unanimously gave the go-ahead Monday to three urban plans designed to revitalize the city’s Westside. Next stop for the proposals: City Council.

The plans would create new zoning for residential and mixed-use developments in what has largely been an industrial area. City officials estimate as many as 3,771 new residential units could be added and up to 1.4 million square feet of industrial space lost in the next 20 years if half of the 618-acre area is redeveloped.

Two of the plans, called 19 West and Mesa West Bluffs, would encourage new residential projects and mixed-use developments that include spaces for small businesses with living quarters above them or nearby. The third plan would promote home ownership by offering incentives for residential developments.

“This is especially meaningful to me because this process started 32 years ago for me and it’s finally coming to fruition,” said Planning Commissioner Donn Hall. “I think we have a plan coming forward that is going to make the Westside what it should have been many, many years ago.”

Developers and land brokers are waiting eagerly for city officials to approve the plans. They’ve already been canvassing property owners to see who wants to sell, Dennis Cisterna III of builder Toll Brothers said Monday.

“When you go into an area like Costa Mesa that is practically built out there’s a lot of risk involved ? one, from community opposition, and two, just from the entitlement standpoint and the time it takes to get it [a project] approved,” Cisterna said. “It gives us a lot more comfort that the city is on the same page as some of the residential developers.”

City officials and developers are excited about the urban plans, but a group of 144 Westside business and property owners have raised objections. They worry their businesses will be pushed out of the city once residents start to move in.

Martin Pickett of the Cla-Val company on Placentia Avenue supports Westside revitalization, but he wants safeguards in place to protect businesses.

“We feel threatened. We would just like your consideration that we have rights as long-term businesses in the area,” Pickett said.

Cla-Val, which makes valves, has been in the city for more than 50 years and has 400 some employees.

Gary Weisberg, an attorney for the business owners, sent a strongly worded letter to planning commissioners Friday that demands a full environmental report on potential effects of the Westside plans.

Not performing the report “does nothing more than invite the city to a legal challenge” under the California Environmental Quality Act, a law that sets the standards for environmental studies on development, according to the letter.

Some city officials have argued that full reports aren’t required until specific building projects are proposed.

The Westside plans, and those who oppose them, will soon come before the City Council. But business owners’ fears of being squeezed out may not cut any ice with the council.

“I think a lot of these concerns are overreaction,” Costa Mesa Mayor Allan Mansoor said before the meeting Monday.

“What’s their alternative solution? We have to do something to revitalize the Westside. We can’t just say ‘no, no, no’ all the time.”

City council members are scheduled to consider the plans April 4.