Nearby businesses appeal proposed Ganahl Lumber
Owners of a Bristol Street office building in Costa Mesa have appealed a recent decision to build a new Ganahl Lumber store nearby.
The City Council is scheduled Tuesday to hear the appeal, filed Feb. 27 by owners of an office building at 1027 Bristol St.
The appeal alleges that Ganahl’s proposed store at 1100 Bristol St., up the street from its current location, is “mega” and out of compliance with city zoning code.
The proposed lumber and hardware facility was unanimously approved last month by the city Planning Commission. It was approved to have four new structures totaling about 106,000 square feet on a 6.6-acre, commercially zoned lot.
The appeal alleges that the new Ganahl site would primarily be a lumberyard with a working sawmill, not a retail space, and that lumberyards aren’t permitted on that area.
“At best, the Ganahl lumberyard mega project is a lumberyard with an ancillary retail use — not the other way around,” 1027 Bristol’s attorney, Michael H. Leifer, wrote in a letter to city planners. “This is evident by the proposed site configuration and design and the building layout.”
Leifer also disputed Ganahl’s parking, calling it insufficient. The site was approved for 286 spaces, which city planners predicted would meet demand.
The Ganahl plans are also being contested by Ray Markley, owner of the office building at 1120 Bristol St.
In a letter to the city, Markley, who also owns an insurance business in the building, wrote: “The addition of this busy retail/contractor business will add to the already terrible congestion of Bristol Street during the commute hours.”
He added that “the noise of the large construction vehicles and equipment used to move lumber will be disruptive to our business.”
Tuesday’s appeal is officially known as a “de novo” hearing, meaning that the council will consider the proposal from scratch and can potentially change, deny or uphold the Planning Commission’s prior approval.
If approved, Ganahl’s new store would replace its existing facility that’s about half the size and down the street, at 1275 Bristol. Before the Anaheim-based Ganahl chain bought the facility in 1998, the store was called Barr Lumber, which had been operating there since the 1970s.
