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Residents, safety experts urge council to delay Festival Shopping Center housing over evacuation, traffic and fire risks
Summary
Scores of residents and former first responders urged the Anaheim City Council to reject or delay the Festival Shopping Center residential proposal, saying evacuation modeling and infrastructure plans do not reflect worst‑case fire scenarios and asking the council to reopen public comment when the developer revises the project.
Scores of Anaheim residents, local safety experts and former first responders urged the City Council on Feb. 11 to halt or significantly revise a proposed residential project at the Festival Shopping Center, saying the site is in an extreme fire‑hazard zone and that existing evacuation modeling underestimates worst‑case risks.
At the podium, a string of speakers described years of wildfire experience in Anaheim Hills and called the proposed development "a foreseeable public safety failure." A former Anaheim Fire Department member told the council that a wind‑driven wildfire in the canyon is "100% predictable" and said the city must not approve dense housing until evacuation routes and infrastructure are upgraded.
Why it matters: The project would rezone a commercial site in a high‑fire area and add hundreds of residences and vehicles to an area residents say already faces multi‑hour evacuation times in wind‑driven fires. Speakers said the EIR and traffic analysis rely on limited data (a weekday snapshot and theater‑attendance comparisons) and do not model worst‑case evacuation behavior.
Residents cited several concerns: outdated or incomplete traffic studies, lack of new evacuation routes, reliance on the city's "Know Your Way" plan without tested large‑scale drills, and the potential for gridlock on Santa Ana Canyon Road and nearby intersections. One longtime resident said that during a prior evacuation it took "2½ hours" to travel a quarter‑mile to safety, a personal anecdote offered to underscore the models' lack of real‑world validation.
Several speakers asked that the public hearing be reopened when the developer proposes changes, noting the hearing on the matter has been continued repeatedly; the council later continued item 10 to a March 3, 2026 meeting at the applicant's request.
The council's next steps: Council members and staff discussed neighborhood open houses and additional briefings. Acting City Manager Greg Garcia and planning staff were asked to circulate updated traffic and evacuation analyses and to provide more public outreach before the March 3 hearing.
A council action noted on the dais: item 10 was continued to March 3, 2026, by unanimous vote.
The meeting record shows multiple residents and safety advocates will appear again on March 3 to press the council for a fuller, worst‑case evacuation review and for additional infrastructure commitments before any rezone or approval.
