Plans include houses, business for Westside

Members of City Council, planning commission look at development ideas for Costa Mesa area.Three plans to integrate new residential and commercial development into Costa Mesa’s Westside have come off the drawing board and are getting a public airing.

Members of the City Council and the planning commission on Tuesday had their first look at the 19 West and Mesa West Bluffs urban plans and the Mesa West residential ownership plan.

The first two plans aim to promote development of store fronts and work spaces clustered in “villages,” with housing either above work spaces in the same buildings or nearby.

Aimed at artists, craftspeople and small-business owners, these so-called mixed use developments have become popular in other cities as a way to cut traffic congestion and stimulate redevelopment of dilapidated properties.

Since city zoning doesn’t now allow this type of development, officials are considering creating an overlay, which would add new zoning rules to what’s already allowed in the area.

Costa Mesa’s plans lay out the details: lot sizes, building heights, parking requirements, even plant types for landscaping.

The goal of the third plan is to promote home ownership by encouraging the building of new condominiums and other multi-unit developments.

According to the city, the 2000 federal census showed that while the national average of housing units occupied by a renter rather than an owner is 39%, Costa Mesa has an average of 60% renter-occupied properties.

In the Mesa West residential plan area, the average is even higher -- 81% of the units were renter-occupied in 2000.

Ralph Ronquillo, who chaired the committee that in March recommended a plan for Westside revitalization to the council, said Tuesday that he was excited to see how much effort the city is putting into Westside proposals.

“I think that what they’re detailing in those plans is very aggressive, but I do think it would definitely improve the area, maybe even beyond some of the things that were outlined in the [committee’s] report,” he said.

City Councilman Eric Bever said Westside property owners have told him they’re already being solicited by developers.

“I think certainly the standards are going to be beneficial to the area in terms of bringing in private development, which is the aim of the council, to initiate improvement without using eminent domain or any other sources of money,” Bever said.

The next step is public hearings with the planning commission and then the City Council, which ultimately will decide whether to amend the city’s general plan and zoning code to include the overlay.

No hearing dates have been scheduled, but the plans could appear on the planning commission’s agenda as soon as November, city planner Claire Flynn said.

For more information on the plans, visit the city’s website, www.ci.costa-mesa.ca.us.