Planners view Home Ranch

Lolita Harper

The “home” part of the contentious Home Ranch project is ready to

head into the home stretch.

Monday night, the Planning Commission will review plans for the

16-acre residential portion of the massive development, which was the

focus of months of bitter, heated debate a year ago.

Unlike those initial development proceedings for the Home Ranch

project, which had lined City Hall with residents on both sides of

the contentious issue, Planning Commissioners are expecting a “fairly

straight forward process” for Monday.

Representatives from Standard Pacific, who were chosen by the

Segerstroms to design and construct houses on the northeast portion

of the 93-acre Home Ranch site, will outline designs that call for 60

single-family homes and 83 townhomes for the area.

Major aspects of the project fall in line with existing city

building codes, but the builders are asking for exceptions in parking

requirements and in building heights for the free-standing homes.

Designs for the townhomes fall in line with city standards.

The proposed single-family homes exceed general height

requirements by three feet, according to a staff report. Pacific

Standard officials are asking to build 30-foot homes -- just over the

27-foot maximum -- with chimneys that would reach heights of 33 feet,

which also exceeds the city’s usual of 29.

All of the homes, whether attached or detached, will have garages,

the report outlines. The single-family homes will also have a two-car

driveway leading into those garages, which should supplement parking.

Specific open space parking requirements fall just short of city

requirements for the distance from the townhomes and therefore

require another variance.

Veteran Planning Commissioner Walter Davenport said he is not

worried about the minimal exceptions being requested. Were the homes

being built in an existing neighborhood, he may be more concerned, he

said. But that the gated community is being constructed on a former

lima bean farm means it has little to interfere with.

“This is a totally enclosed community, under one management, with

one home owners’ association for the entire project,” Davenport said.

“I think it can be easily managed by the association.”

The Pacific Standard project site is on the northeast portion of

the 93-acre Home Ranch site, on the corner of Sunflower Avenue and

Susan Street. It lies alongside the administrative offices of the

Auto Club of Southern California.

Other major components of the overarching development include an

Ikea retail store, Emulex industrial headquarters and a mix of

campus-style office space.

The former lima bean farms, once cultivated and still owned by the

influential Segerstrom family, are bordered by Harbor Boulevard,

Sunflower Avenue, Fairview Road and the San Diego Freeway.

* LOLITA HARPER covers Costa Mesa. She may be reached at (949)

574-4275 or by e-mail at [email protected].