Council holds off on high-rise decision

A plan for five high-rise condominium buildings in Costa Mesa will have to wait at least until January after the City Council voted unanimously to table the matter.

City Council members on Tuesday planned to hold a lengthy public hearing on the condos, which would be the biggest residential project in the city’s history. But after John Wayne Airport’s Airport Land Use Commission took a dim view of the project, council members opted temporarily to override the commission’s report and take up the matter again in January, after the commission has had time to respond.

According to Councilwoman Katrina Foley, the commission objected to the planned height of the buildings.

“I think everyone was caught off guard by the Airport Land Use Commission’s decision,” Foley said. “All the buildings in that plan are shorter than the buildings they have in that area now.”

At the council’s Jan. 16 meeting, the members expect to officially vote on whether to overrule the commission’s report.

Since most of the discussion on the high-rises was tabled, the public hearing featured only a few brief comments. Attorney Eileen McCarthy of the Public Law Center urged the city to consider affordable housing at the same time as it sought expensive lofts, an opinion that Councilwoman Linda Dixon seconded.

“I think it’s extremely important that a project like this make an effort to provide affordable housing elsewhere in the city,” Dixon said.

In December 2005, five developers in the South Coast Plaza Town Center area submitted applications to the city for high-rise residential buildings. Each of the projects would be in the area around the Orange County Performing Arts Center — which also recently embarked on an extensive renovation — with three on Anton Boulevard, one on Bristol Street and the fifth on Town Center Drive.

The five projects would add more than 1,200 residences to Costa Mesa. Four of the five buildings would require demolition of property, including the Lakes Pavilion Retail Center on Anton Boulevard.

On Aug. 7, the city conducted a public workshop to relay information on the projects, and the planning commission heard the matter a week later. At its Sept. 11 meeting, the commission voted unanimously to recommend approval of the projects.

One proposed development, backed by the Orange County Performing Arts Center, involves creating a new site for the Orange County Museum of Art with 80 condominiums on top.

QUESTION

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