Town Center developer moves closer toward resolution

Jennifer Kho

COSTA MESA -- With Commonwealth Partners’ guarantee that an agreement

is only a month away, the City Council agreed Monday to postpone a

decision on part of the Town Center project.

After intense negotiations for months, the developer had requested

last week that the council postpone the decision for 18 months.

Commonwealth Partners planner Phil Schwartze said Monday that the

developer changed its mind.

“Since we made the request, we have been talking with the attorneys

and I believe we are a hair’s breadth away from being resolved,”

Schwartze said. “I am not coming back to council chambers without a

development agreement.”

With that said, the council will again consider the project at its

July 2 meeting.

Commonwealth Partners is one of the developers of the Town Center

project, which seeks to transform South Coast Metro into a

pedestrian-oriented cultural arts district bordered by Bristol Street,

Sunflower Avenue, Avenue of the Arts and the San Diego Freeway.

Collaborating on the project with Commonwealth are the Orange County

Performing Arts Center and South Coast Partners, which owns South Coast

Plaza.

The South Coast Partners and the Center’s portions of the project were

approved earlier this year, but Commonwealth’s part has been held up

mainly because of disagreement about the length of time the developer

must maintain Isamu Noguchi’s California Scenario sculpture garden.

While both parties at a May 21 meeting finally agreed to require

Commonwealth to maintain the garden for 50 years, issues of parking and

how much money the company will have to provide for the area have kept an

agreement out of reach.

The council, which preliminarily approved the 50-year term May 21,

also approved a requirement that the developer provide the parking and

money for the Theater Arts District.

A plan for the Theater Arts District has yet to be drafted and

Commonwealth said it can’t agree to unknown amounts of parking and money.

Schwartze has said he hopes to persuade city officials to agree to a

fixed number or a cap on the amount.

A few Costa Mesa residents expressed their remaining concerns about

the project at Monday’s meeting.

Craig Stevenson said he would like more protection for the California

Scenario, while Robin Leffler said she is concerned about density and

traffic.

“I’ve been watching this for a while and I think the city has offered

them huge entitlements -- more than I’m comfortable with -- and have

gotten very little in return,” Leffler said. “I’m not in favor of

granting those entitlements.”