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South Coast Metro to grow?

Andrew Glazer

SOUTH COAST METRO -- The Segerstrom family’s plans to expand city arts

facilities and develop new office space here will face its first public

scrutiny later this month.

The project calls for constructing a 2,500-seat symphony hall, a

140,000-square-foot art museum, a 140-seat expansion to South Coast

Repertory Theater, three office towers and two parking structures.

The 54-acre site for the planned development is bordered by Bristol

Street, Sunflower Avenue, Avenue of the Arts and the San Diego Freeway.

The public will have an opportunity Aug. 14 to respond to a document,

available at City Hall and two local libraries, which outlines the

project’s potential effects on the area.

In late September, the Planning Commission is scheduled to discuss

whether to recommend the project to the City Council.

The project may generate more traffic, smog, and with the new jobs it

would create, draw more people to the already crowded city, according to

a report prepared by independent consultants.

But Costa Mesa Planning and Redevelopment Manager Michael Robinson

said he expects the project will draw minimal opposition. The buildings

are fairly removed from residential neighborhoods.

Robinson, who said the city’s planning staff still hasn’t made a

decision on the project, said he was concerned about possible increases

in smog here.

“The area already has an air pollution problem,” he said. “Anything

that adds more pollution exacerbates that problem.”

The developers would demolish the Edwards Cinema and three restaurants

here to make room for the new buildings.

Copies of the report are available until Sept. 1 in the planning

division at City Hall, 77 Fair Drive; the Mesa Verde Library, 2969 Mesa

Verde Drive East; and the Costa Mesa Library, 1855 Park Ave.

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