Homeowner targets shopping center project

Andrew Glazer

COSTA MESA -- Attorneys for an angry homeowner on Monday accused city

planners of speeding blueprints for a shopping center through the

approval process, effectively shielding the project from serious public

scrutiny.

The council unanimously approved the plans for the 17-acre site at 3030

Harbor Blvd., which will include a restaurant, Target discount store and

outdoor garden center.

“We think they were motivated to put the project on the fast track to get

tax revenues,” said Jack Lee, attorney for homeowner Al Morelli, who

appealed the Planning Commission’s decision to approve the project

Tuesday.

Lee said Morelli will probably apply to the City Council for a rehearing.

If the council votes to not allow the second hearing, Lee said his client

may file a civil lawsuit against the city.

Morelli appealed the project to the Planning Commission last month,

saying it would bring noise and traffic to the neighborhood. Without

Morelli’s appeal, the project would not have required a public hearing

because it conformed with city codes, said city planner Perry Valantine.

Morelli took the item to the City Council on Monday after the Planning

Commission approved plans for the shopping center. The meeting was

punctuated with name-calling, tearful testimony and accusations of unfair

collusion.

Lee said the project actually did break several city codes and accused

city officials of attempting to avoid the public hearing process. He

cited a letter -- written by developer James J. Theusch to City Manager

Allan Roeder -- as evidence of a shady agreement between the two to speed

up the approval process. The letter, dated July 1999, does not

specifically mention any such agreement.

Roeder said Tuesday he doesn’t normally meet with developers in the early

planning stages, but he did in July to encourage them to seek public

input as they planned the site. He said he learned the importance of

public input after extensive debate over a similar shopping center on

Harbor Boulevard.

“We were coming off the heels of a difficult debate about the Harbor

Center,” Roeder said, “and we wanted to stress the importance of meeting

with residents in the neighborhood.”

“The accusations are ludicrous,” Mayor Gary Monahan said Tuesday. “If

anything, the city was trying to give the developer a strong suggestion

to work with the neighbors, which they did. Their insinuations and

accusations are unfounded and a slap at the integrity of the entire city

organization.”