Balanced city architect retires

COSTA MESA — When Mike Robinson first got hired by Costa Mesa, he never would have imagined high-rise residential towers, but a cluster of them are expected to break ground in the next few years.

Robinson, who retires today after 34 years with the city, came to the city as an assistant planner in 1973 — his first job out of college. He planned originally to study aerospace engineering and become a Navy pilot, but “it didn’t take me long to realize in ’68 the only jobs for Navy pilots were in a place called Vietnam,” he said.

So he went into architecture instead and ultimately got interested in urban planning, focusing on the big picture of communities versus individual buildings.

Over the years Robinson, 57, worked on some memorable projects that have changed the city’s face, such as the Orange County Performing Arts Center and new Renee and Henry Segerstrom Concert Hall, and others that have shaped its development, like the first major update of the city’s general plan that was finished in 1980.

“I think that’s when we first started to see the idea of how the Town Center might develop” with high-density buildings, but city planners didn’t expect homes, he said. “Back then, Orange County was still a suburban community with a suburban mentality. I think we were even pushing the envelope thinking about high-rise office development.”

Robinson also has worked on his share of controversial projects, including Triangle Square and a study of the Whittier Avenue area that ended in a choice between the existing industrial zoning and future plans for residential development.

Despite community disputes about city projects he worked on, Robinson never became a focus of the debate, City Manager Allan Roeder said.

“I think that speaks to his very even-handed, level-headed approach, his willingness to work with all parties,” Roeder said. “I can’t say I’ve ever had anyone complain about Mike, about the way he treats people.”

Through it all, Robinson said, he stayed in Costa Mesa because it was fun to work in a community big enough to offer diversity but small enough not to be too bureaucratic.

He liked his co-workers, and every time he thought about making a change, another promotion or exciting project came along.

“I just like being part of building a better community,” he said.

Robinson and his wife will move to a home on a golf course in La Quinta.