Plans for the Plant, a proposed mixed-use development, to go back before the Costa Mesa City Council

Three months after an unsuccessful first go-round, plans for the Plant — a mixed-use development proposed for Costa Mesa’s Sobeca district — will return to the City Council for review Tuesday.

Pitched by Lab Holding LLC, the Plant would redevelop about 2.2 acres of land at the corner of Baker Street and Century Place with new restaurant and retail space, residential units and a parking structure.

The council took a crack at the project in April, but delayed making a final decision so city staff could further study whether it would provide sufficient parking.

As proposed, the Plant entails renovating three commercial buildings with retail and dining surrounding a central courtyard. Those buildings currently contain the CarMart auto dealership and used to house a nursery and garden shop called the Plant Stand.

Lab Holding also proposes building a new 540-square-foot greenhouse, a 700-square-foot structure for food stall uses and a four-story building with a blend of residential units, live/work units and office space above a two-level parking garage.

Since the last council hearing, Lab Holding has revised the project to increase the number of live/work units from six to 14 and cut the proposed restaurant, retail and office space by thousands of square feet. The number of proposed residential units is unchanged at 48, according to planning documents.

The latest plan reconfigures the project’s parking — adding more on-site surface spaces while reducing the parking structure’s capacity from 180 to 170 stalls. Combined, those changes would increase the total parking stock from 242 to 243. City codes require 241 spaces.

Parking, or the lack thereof, is a common topic of concern for projects proposed throughout the Sobeca district — a 39-acre zone that includes other Lab Holding developments, such as the Camp and the Lab commercial centers, on Bristol Street.

Fairview Park project reviews

Council members also are set to determine whether a handful of proposed capital projects at Fairview Park are subject to a public vote and, if so, whether they should appear on November’s ballot.

The Fairview Park Steering Committee previously screened the concepts for compliance with Measure AA — a city initiative requiring that residents sign off on several possible changes at the park — and determined they would need voter approval to move forward as designed.

Projects up for the council’s review are:

• Installing new storm drains along the edge of the park between Canyon Drive and Pacific Avenue
• Building a vehicle turnaround on Pacific Avenue, where the road dead-ends at a south entrance to the park
• Renovating and repaving trails through the park that provide connections to Canyon Drive, Placentia Avenue and Talbert Regional Park
• Developing a new decomposed granite path that would wind through the canyon on the western side of the park, leading to the wetlands, and ecological restoration and removal of concrete debris from the canyon
• Constructing an ADA-compliant sidewalk between the restroom and picnic shelter near the south end of the west parking lot.

Tuesday’s council meeting starts at 6 p.m. in City Hall, 77 Fair Drive.

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