Positive plans in 2 Costa Mesa neighborhoods

Costa Mesa residents, not to mention city leaders, owe a big thanks to the groups that put together the blueprint for the area known as South on Bristol, Entertainment, Culture and Arts, or Sobeca, and plans for the Westside. The planning commission approved both plans last week, and they now are headed to the City Council.

The Sobeca plan was four years in the making and includes innovative ideas about mixed-use development, loft housing (a hot segment of the real-estate market) and live-work buildings. Its model is urban areas such as New York’s SoHo and Tribeca, a style of living that seemingly would fit in well with established businesses anchored by the Lab and the Camp.

Not every business would thrive under the proposal, of course, which covers a 39-acre area bordered by Baker and Bristol streets and the Corona del Mar Freeway (73). About 300 light-industrial jobs are expected to disappear, but that loss would be offset by a gain of 171 jobs at the live-work sites as well as about 450 housing units.

That sounds like a pretty good trade.

The timeline for the plan is fairly ambitious ? some 20 years. But that type of long-range planning hasn’t been Costa Mesa’s greatest strength during its first 50 years. It’s a step in the right direction to see city leaders deciding how they want an area to develop and then starting to put in place the tools to do just that.

We all can hope that plans for the Westside will produce a similar sense of excitement and potential growth. Their road to approval last week was far more winding and difficult than the Sobeca one, not surprising given the area’s long-suffering state ? at least long-suffering and poorly developed when compared with neighborhoods around it. The Westside of Costa Mesa still has much going for it.

The plans’ road to City Council approval also will be more difficult because the area is much larger ? 618 acres ? and the changes proposed are more dramatic and will likely affect more people ? business owners and their employees in particular. During the same 20-year period that the Sobeca area might lose 130 jobs, city officials estimate that nearly 1.5 million square feet of industrial building will disappear ? and the jobs along with them. In their place will be about 3,700 residential units ? an obvious way in which to develop this part of the city.

Business owners already are objecting to the plans, saying they will be forced out as residents move in and begin complaining about nearby businesses. They have demanded an environmental review of the proposals.

Despite those reservations, the Westside plans appear to be a solid beginning for improving the Westside. It will be in the city’s best interests if all the parties, business owners included, can find a way to agree on what the Westside should look like in 20 years.