Standard Pacific ‘exploring options’

Andrew Glazer

MESA VERDE -- A local developer whose 90-home project was rejected by the

Planning Commission this week said he wouldn’t reveal his next move, if

any, for the site.

“We’re going to explore all of our options,” Michael Battaglia of

Standard Pacific said on Wednesday, refusing to elaborate on what those

options might be.

However, the developer’s potential options include appealing the Planning

Commission’s rejection to the City Council next month, scrapping the

project altogether or scaling it down so it would include fewer homes.

Last month, Battaglia said the project on Mesa Verde Drive and Adams

Avenue wouldn’t be profitable with fewer than 90 homes.

Residents of the quiet, upper-middle-class neighborhood fought the

development, saying the added population would congest their narrow

streets with traffic and their nearest elementary school with new

children.

More than 100 opponents of the project flooded City Hall during Monday

night’s Planning Commission meeting. In the end, the commission voted 3-2

to reject Standard Pacific’s request. The decision was made despite a

city staff report, which concluded plans for the development conformed

with city regulations.

“We worked with staff and the community over the past three months,”

Battaglia said. “We will continue doing this.”

Robin Leffler, a Mesa Verde resident who was one of the project’s most

outspoken opponents, said Tuesday she would support Standard Pacific if

it scaled down the development to include 60 homes.

“I would be pretty happy with that,” she said.