Debate could focus on city’s future

Jennifer Kho

MESA DEL MAR -- A plan to replace an aging retail center with homes

goes before the public for the first time today -- but many residents

have already taken sides in what promises to be a lengthy debate about

the direction the city is headed.

The plan would convert the rundown, 2.5-acre El Camino Shopping Center

-- bordered by single-family homes, an office building and apartments --

into single-family houses.

The Planning Commission is scheduled today to consider only a request

to rezone the property from neighborhood commercial to medium-density

residential, which would allow the owners to build between 19 and 29

homes on the site.

The developer, El Camino Partners LLC, has not submitted a specific

plan, and the design will depend on new residential development standards

that the city is working on.

The City Council on Tuesday voted to extend a moratorium on new

two-story, single-family developments and second-story additions in all

residential zones throughout the city while it works on those new codes.

The proposed revisions would require bigger lots, larger driveways,

more off-street parking, more landscaping and a more extensive review

process for new developments and major remodels.

Final designs for the El Camino project will be reviewed by the

Planning Commission and the City Council after the residential

development standards are approved.

But long before that point, neighbors have already taken strong

stances on both sides of the issue.

Store owners, employees and customers are dead set against the

conversion and Tuesday submitted a petition signed by about 200 people

opposed to the project.

“A lot of people really need our services,” said Jessica Ordonez,

manager of Super Star Burgers, which is in the shopping center. “There

are a lot of customers who live in the apartments. We get single guys

living alone who come here to eat, as well as people who aren’t allowed

to cook in the apartment or people who come in late from work and who

just want something quick.

“Plus, we have the school nearby and teachers eat here and kids after

school, especially if they have parents that come home from work later.”

But Mesa Del Mar Homeowners Assn. Inc. representatives spoke in favor

of the change at a December meeting, when the City Council agreed to

consider the medium-density housing project when it is submitted.

“We just think that, although the shopping center served its purpose

when it was first put in, it’s deteriorated to the point that it has

become a hangout for a bunch of kids and an eyesore,” said Ed Keene, vice

president of the association. “We think replacing it with beautiful

two-story homes will increase the value of the type of city we want Costa

Mesa to be. We think it will be quite an improvement, a step in the right

direction.”

Planning Commissioner Katie Wilson said the main issue will be for the

commission to decide whether the services provided at the shopping center

are available elsewhere in the area.

“It’s a tough situation because there is so much support for housing

that, I think, stems from the frustration about the state of the center,

but there is also a significant population in the neighborhood that uses

the services,” said Wilson, who added that she has not yet taken a

position on the issue.

“Cleaning up the property is important, but that doesn’t mean we have

to rezone to residential to do it. We need to be sure there is a balance

of services in the area.”