SANTA ANA : City Guards French Park’s Historic Style

The City Council this week took a major step toward preserving the historic character of the French Park neighborhood by ensuring that only single-family homes may be built there.

The once-deteriorating area, situated near the bustle of downtown Santa Ana, has rebounded in recent years to become one of the city’s model historic neighborhoods.

The council now has amended the General Plan to allow only construction of single-family homes. That was initiated by members of the Historic French Park Assn. who have preserved historic homes in the neighborhood, the type that once were being torn down by developers to build apartment buildings.

“Our goal is to preserve the integrity of the neighborhood as much as it is still possible,” said association member Catherine Cates, who with her husband, Steve, bought a Mediterranean-style home on French Street in 1986.

“We would not have moved here if developers had still been allowed to destroy homes like the Charles French home which was torn down and replaced by apartments,” Cates said.

In 1981, the council passed interim zoning restrictions and architectural guidelines that stopped any apartment construction in French Park and prevented developers from converting old houses to anything larger than a duplex. They made the restrictions and guidelines permanent in 1984.

The council’s latest action takes things a step further by no longer allowing duplexes to be built and only allowing single-family residential homes to be built on any vacant land in the neighborhood.

Senior Planner Linda Hale said residents of French Park requested the amendment as a “safety measure.”

“There are very few vacant parcels left in French Park, if any at all,” Hale said. “In the way of new development, this is just an additional protection.”

The General Plan amendment also changes density in west Santa Ana to low-medium density to encourage the building of more single-family homes. A low-medium density allows no more than 11 units of housing per acre.