City puts brakes on ‘clone home’ projects

Andrew Glazer

COSTA MESA -- The City Council late Monday night unanimously approved a

measure temporarily halting multi-home developments here.

“This is a very key issue,” said City Councilwoman Heather Somers, who

has led the effort to preserve the East Side’s unique character and

proposed the moratorium last month. “We can’t keep allowing four-bedroom

homes to be built on postage stamp-sized lots.”

The measure, sparked by the East Side but will apply citywide, is

designed to halt “cookie cutter” developments from popping up as city

planners devise a more permanent way to preserve neighborhood character.

Many homes on the East Side built in the 1930s and ‘40s differed from

those of their neighbors’ and were surrounded by large yards. Newer

multi-home tracts, crammed onto lots previously occupied by just one

home, have left less room for yards and landscaping.

Planners will discuss whether to further limit the number of homes on

each lot -- a previous council already did in 1992 -- require larger

yards and more on-site parking to regulate new East Side construction.

On Monday, the council also voted against two brothers’ plans to build

housing developments on the East Side, which the Planning Commission

already approved. Councilman Joe Erickson encouraged James and Joe

Cefalia, who proposed four-home projects on 16th Street and Garden Lane,

to redesign the developments, allowing for more on-site parking and yard

space.

“We don’t want to do away with new developments here,” said Erickson, who

voted against the Garden Lane development but supported the 16th Street

project.

He said the homes on Garden Lane would clog parking spots and spill new

traffic onto streets near Kaiser Elementary and Kaiser Primary schools,

making it difficult for parents to pick up their children.

But he said the proposed 16th Street homes would fit in there. “We just

need to improve the standards. What we have now isn’t working,” Erickson

said.

Mayor Gary Monahan voted in favor of the Cefalia projects and said he

reluctantly voted for the moratorium. He said it wouldn’t be fair to deny

permission to develop there after they had spent tens of thousands of

dollars planning the project.

Jim Cefalia on Monday said that when he spent $550,000 to purchase the

site eight months ago, he assumed the project would be approved by the

city because it did not violate any city codes.

“He did everything he was supposed to,” Monahan said. “From a moral

standpoint, we basically said ‘do not trust our word.’ I have a serious

problem with that.”

Helen Wilk, who owns the two lots on East 16th Street that Joe Cefalia

planned to buy before the council rejected his plans, said she depended

on selling her property to support her retirement.

“The council would like us to put only one house on each lot, but no

developer would do that,” she said. “It wouldn’t be worthwhile. With the

moratorium, I don’t think the city will get any developers to build here

at all.”

Somers said she understands the Cefalias’ frustration. But she said her

priority is preserving the character of the East Side.

“Their timing was very unfortunate,” she said. “But we had been looking

at changing things for a long time.”

But Monahan, still fuming Tuesday about the council’s decision to reject

the Cefalias’ proposals, said he sympathized most for Wilk.

“I completely feel for her,” he said. “I don’t know how we can make it

right.”

CHARACTER FLAW?Should the city halt multi-home developments on the

East Side in an attempt to preserve neighborhood character? Call our

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