Home Ranch makes its meeting debut

Lolita Harper

COSTA MESA -- After several previous incarnations, the Home Ranch

project has again returned to the city’s agenda. And it has again been

met with opposition.

At Monday’s Planning Commission meeting, which lasted past midnight,

nearly 30 people showed up to comment on the proposed development, said

Planning Commission Chairwoman Katrina Foley. About 20 other people could

not make the meeting but faxed in letters, she said.

“This is good. This is what community involvement is all about, but I

would like to hear from some new people,” Foley said.

Officials at C.J. Segerstrom & Sons presented their plans for the site

-- bordered by the San Diego Freeway, Fairview Road, Harbor Boulevard and

Sunflower Avenue -- that would host a 17-acre Ikea furniture store,

791,050 square feet of office space, 252,648 of industrial and 192 homes.

After numerous public presentations by Segerstrom officials, those who

have followed the project could probably recite the plans by heart,

resident and former Councilman Jay Humphrey said. And conversely, most

C.J. Segerstrom officials know the main points of the opposition, he

said.

With a definitive decision looming in the near future, neither side

would dare miss a chance to voice their opinions. The meeting also

afforded the first public presentation by Ikea officials.

Don Collins, Ikea project manager, said the proposed Costa Mesa store

would be a flagship store, addressing many of their customers’ concerns

about existing stores.

The furniture store would best its Tustin location -- which would then

close -- by displaying twice the merchandise, have wider aisles and a

bigger child-care facility, Collins said. In addition, traffic generated

by Ikea customers would be generally during off-peak hours because the

store doesn’t open until 10 a.m., Collins said.

Collins also outlined the company’s willingness to decrease the amount

of blue -- which many residents were opposed to -- by nearly 70%. Despite

repeated affirmations that Ikea is a good neighbor, residents opposed to

the Home Ranch project did not appear to be swayed.

Paul Flanagan, president of Costa Mesa Residents for Responsible

Growth, said residents who border the San Diego Freeway, Fairview Drive

or South Coast Drive will be affected the most.

“I think those neighborhoods are getting the raw deal,” Flanagan said.

“No matter what else is done for the city, those neighborhoods will pay

for it. The city needs to protect them.”