Three cities want to make it easier to replace commercial buildings with housing in key spots, inspired by the thousands of homes approved for Anaheim’s Platinum Triangle last week.
Officials in Santa Ana, Costa Mesa and Fullerton said they want to streamline the development process and spare developers from intensive environmental studies in certain areas.
Instead, the cities would do one overall study that developers could draw from, as Anaheim did around Angel Stadium of Anaheim.
Other changes are planned. Santa Ana and Costa Mesa are considering special optional zoning,again, following Anaheim’s lead,to allow for housing.
Similar changes in Anaheim have lured developers in droves to the Platinum Triangle, an 820-acre area between the Santa Ana (I-5) Freeway and the Santa Ana River. In recent months, developers have proposed 7,500 condominiums and apartments there.
Last week, Anaheim OK’d Lennar Corp.’s plan for 2,681 homes, including high-rise condominiums, in a triangle development dubbed A-Town.
Costa Mesa likely is furthest along among other cities.
It is looking at four sites totaling about 650 acres, according to R. Michael Robinson, assistant development services director for Costa Mesa.
Three of the sites are between the Costa Mesa Golf Course and Superior Avenue. The fourth site is between Bristol Street and the San Joaquin Hills (73) Toll Road.
Around 19th Street west of Newport Boulevard, the city could encourage the conversion of apartments to condos, Robinson said.
“We have the highest ratio of renter occupied versus owner occupied in Orange County,” Robinson said. “The idea is to provide more ownership opportunities.”
Santa Ana is eyeing a 145-acre site along Fourth Street between the 5 Freeway and Tustin Avenue, according to Karen Haluza, a principal planner with the city.
The city also is considering special zoning a few blocks away downtown to allow for transforming commercial and other buildings into condominium lofts, Haluza said.
Fullerton hopes to partner with a developer on planning for a 35-acre area around its downtown train station, according to Robert Zur Schmiede, executive director of the city’s redevelopment agency.
The city is looking to split planning costs with a developer, which would have first dibs developing city land within the 35 acres. The city owns about half the land, he said.
The deadline has passed for developers to submit their qualifications to Fullerton for the partnership, he said.
Whether the cities can replicate Anaheim’s early gains is unclear. The Platinum Triangle has the lure of Angel Stadium, Arrowhead Pond of Anaheim and is a mile or two from the Disneyland Resort.
Anaheim also has benefited from Miami-based Lennar, which has its regional headquarters in Aliso Viejo. The homebuilder has aggressively embraced the city’s vision, paying top dollar for industrial buildings and putting forth grand redevelopment plans.
Emile Haddad, Lennar’s head of California operations, said he welcomes bids to duplicate Anaheim’s strategy.
“The key component to redevelopment is the political will and vision the city is going to have,” Haddad said.
Lennar is looking at the areas under consideration by the three other cities, Haddad said. He declined to say if Lennar has any deals in the works.
“For someone like us to go and commit to a deal like the size of the Platinum Triangle, we want to make sure we have a partner in the city and make sure that vision gets implemented the way it’s promised,” Haddad said.
Santa Ana should spend the next six or seven months finishing its special zoning, known as an overlay zone, the city’s Haluza said.
With overlay zoning, existing buildings retain their commercial designation but a developer or owner can ask for different zoning to be enacted.
The overlay zone would allow for housing, shops and other uses.
Costa Mesa could make a presentation to its Planning Commission late this year or early next year on its environmental studies, the city’s Robinson said.
An overlay zone is one option the city is considering, he said. The goal is to avoid requiring a general plan amendment on each redevelopment project, he said.
“It won’t be quite as easy as Anaheim, but I think we will take most of the hurdles out of the way,” Robinson said.
Fullerton’s City Council might choose a development partner by the end of the year, the city’s Zur Schmiede said.
So far, the three cities aren’t discussing caps on housing as Anaheim has done.
Anaheim’s general plan allows for more than 9,000 homes in the triangle. The city has divided the triangle into five districts, each with a cap on the number of condos and apartments allowed.
In three districts, the cap already has been reached.
