City will reconsider 1901 Newport

Deirdre Newman

There will be a rehearing of the 1901 Newport Blvd. project after

all.

On Monday, the City Council, acting as the Redevelopment Agency,

voted unanimously to rehear the high-density condominium project on

Jan. 19.

The project, which calls for four four-story buildings in the

parking lot of the Spanish mission-style property, has been in limbo

since August. Rutter Development sued the City Council and Costa Mesa

Citizens for Responsible Growth in August, claiming that a rehearing

on the downtown condominium project was granted illegally, without

the required presentation of new evidence.

The decision to rehear the project illustrates that the parties to

the lawsuit have made strides toward a compromise, Mayor Gary Monahan

said.

“At least, there has been movement on all sides,” Monahan said.

David Eadie, president of Rutter Development, was not at the

meeting on Monday. His company will not consider dropping the lawsuit

until some compromise version of his project has been approved,

Monahan said.

Robin Leffler, representing the citizens’ group, said she is

“guardedly optimistic” that a solution agreeable to all parties can

be reached.

In April, the City Council, acting as the Redevelopment Agency,

approved the high-density housing project.

In June, the agency approved a rehearing based on new information

and lack of clarification on issues involving shade and shadows in

the project’s environmental report.

The lawsuit claimed that the first time the request for a

rehearing was heard, in May, it should have been considered a

“failed” motion when the vote resulted in a 2-2 deadlock. Rutter

asked the court to void the council’s granting of the rehearing and

to reinstate the council’s approval.

Terry Shaw, who lives on Bernard Street across from the site of

the proposed project, presented on Monday his wish-list for a

compromise, which included lowering the height of the project to

three stories along Bernard Street.

Former mayor Sandy Genis, who is consulting for the citizens’

group, said she hopes all the legal wrangling results in a project

residents can look on with pride.

“My goal would be to do this in a way that would be a case study

of what should be built instead of a case study of what should not be

built,” Genis said. “Because, if it is built as approved, I think,

people might point and say, ‘Never again.’”