Mega-complex gets green light from planners

The Irvine Co. should proceed with plans for its first residential development in Costa Mesa, an 890-unit gated apartment complex with pools, a park and outdoor fireplaces, the Costa Mesa planning commission decided Monday.

The project, planned for Anton Boulevard east of Sakioka Drive, still must be approved by the City Council. With 46 three-story buildings, it might also be the city’s biggest apartment community, city development services director Don Lamm said in an earlier interview.

The commission voted 3-0 to approve the project. Commissioners Eleanor Egan and Donn Hall were absent.

The rental apartments in the development, called the Enclave, will include studios and one- and two-bedroom units. No prices were available, but Lamm described the development as having “very high-end amenities but moderately priced for the workers in north Costa Mesa.”

Those amenities include three swimming pools, a fitness center, a 1.5-acre park with walking paths and bike trails, and washers and dryers and granite countertops in the apartments, Irvine Co. spokesman Bill Rams said earlier Tuesday.

“These are going to be the starters, the young families getting started, the singles, the couples,” commission chairman Bill Perkins said.

“In all, when I looked at this project, I saw a little bit of the future.”

Developers and city planners like the project because it’s close to South Coast Plaza, the Orange County Performing Arts Center and South Coast Metro businesses, so residents could walk to work and entertainment venues. As part of the project, the Irvine Co. will build a bus bay on Sunflower Avenue, which runs along the north side of the development.

Commissioners pointed out that the city has about 60% rental housing and 40% owner-occupied homes, which is the opposite of many cities, but they said this project will fulfill a need.

“If there ever was a place where rental is appropriate, the South Coast Metro [area] is it,” commissioner Bruce Garlich said.

The 40 acres where the Enclave is proposed was farmland from World War II until recently and is owned by Sakioka Farms. The Irvine Co. has a 75-year lease for the property.

City officials may also want the project because it comes with a development agreement stipulating that the Irvine Co. will pay close to $1.7 million to the city’s park development fund.

Construction of the Enclave is expected to start in 2007.

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