Council approves 40-unit condominium project at 220 Victoria Street after debate on parking and open space

The Costa Mesa City Council voted 7-0 on July 15 to approve a proposed 40-unit residential common-interest development at 220 Victoria Street after extended review and public comment.

The project, proposed on a 1.77-acre site north of Victoria Place, requests a general-plan amendment to apply the city's Residential Incentive Overlay and a master-plan approval with deviations to several development standards. The council's approval adopted a mitigated negative declaration under the California Environmental Quality Act and included rezone and tentative tract map actions required for the condominium subdivision.

In presentations before the vote, staff described the site as currently zoned for general commercial uses and noted that the overlay is intended to provide incentives to redevelop underused commercial parcels into housing corridors. The developer requested deviations (the ordinance calls them "deviations") from the condominium code and overlay standards for floor-area ratio, common open space, building height, setbacks, parking count and garage dimensions. The city's off-street parking standard called for 150 spaces; the approved plan proposes 103 spaces (80 enclosed in two-car garages and 23 open spaces), representing a shared parking approach used in several recent local projects.

Supporters and the applicant argued the project was consistent with the intent of Measure K (the city's incentive overlay policy) and added features requested during an earlier council screening: a community barbecue area, children's play area, a flexible open space and improvements to a landscape peninsula along Victoria Place that the developer will improve and the homeowners association will maintain. The developer and architect said units include ground-floor multipurpose rooms or offices, private small rear yards, roof decks and modern exterior materials.

Opponents at the Planning Commission and several public commenters raised concerns about the number of deviations, the deficiency in common-use open space versus private backyard space, narrower-than-code garage and stall widths (the plans show garages 19.5 feet wide vs. 20 feet in the code), reduced parking, and pedestrian safety at the peninsula and the Victoria Place frontage. "There are too many deviations and exceptions," one resident said at the Planning Commission hearing; another caller during council public comment said the site is not currently suitable for housing and called the design "spot zoning."

Council members debated those issues on the dais. Several members asked for stronger protective treatments between the vehicle lanes on Victoria Place and the new peninsula improvements; the council asked staff and the applicant to add a physical protective element (for example a low curving concrete wall or landscape boulder band) and to return design refinements that reduce a stark frontage condition and better orient end units toward Victoria Place to improve the pedestrian experience.

The project approval included conditions requiring a final landscaping plan consistent with the city's requirements (the submittal calls for larger container sizes than minimum), monitoring of mitigation measures in the environmental document and a maintenance agreement for the peninsula improvements. The council's motion did not impose an affordability set-aside; the applicant said ownership affordability units were not included and that in-lieu fees are the typical municipal approach for affordable housing in ownership projects.

The council vote followed a divided recommendation from the Planning Commission, which voted 5-2 to recommend denial citing concerns about the number of deviations and pedestrian safety. City staff recommended approval with required findings.

Next steps: the applicant will submit final construction drawings and obtain building permits; the homeowners' association will be required to maintain on-site common areas and to manage the peninsula improvements adjacent to Victoria Place under a use and maintenance agreement with the city.