An Interesting Twist In Planning Commission Meeting Agenda

COMMISSION TO MEET - WHO WILL BE THERE?
The Costa Mesa Planning Commission meets again on Monday, August 8, 2016 beginning at 6:00 p.m. in City Council Chambers at City Hall.  You can read the agenda HERE.  I have no idea how many of the commissioners will show up for this meeting.  Chair Rob Dickson was absent from the last one.

SOBER LIVING APPEAL SHOVED OUT INTO THE FUTURE
Putting the cart before the horse, what's interesting about this agenda is what will NOT be heard on Monday.  Late Thursday afternoon we received a revised agenda for this meeting and Public Hearing #3, the Appeal of Denial of Reasonable Accommodation Request for a sober living home at 351 and 357 Victoria Street, HERE, has been continued to a date in the future at the request of the appellant.  It's my understanding that this is only the first of at least two dozen such appeals that will be descending on the Planning Commission in the next few months.  You may recall that Development Services Director Gary Armstrong advised the commissioners at a previous meeting to expect some special meetings to be scheduled to handle that avalanche of requests.

ANOTHER TIME EXTENSION ON ANTON
Back to the rest of the agenda.  Public Hearing #1, HERE, is a request for a one-year time extension on the entitlements on several projects that are linked by parking and other factors at 585 and 595 Anton Blvd. (Symphony Towers) and 531 Anton Blvd. (a 3 story parking structure).  This project has already received several automatic extensions.  If the commissioners deny the request the entitlements will end october 8, 2016.

MORE WESTSIDE DEVELOPMENT REQUIRING DEVIATIONS
Public Hearing #2, HERE, is the Urban Master Plan for a five-unit, three-story detached residential development at 752 and 756 West 19th Street, at the corner of Wallace Avenue.  This project is located in the C-1 zone and 19 West Urban Plan and requests a load of deviations from that plan.  Some of those are significant - insufficient guest parking; the lot size only 1/4 the minimum size, and more.  It will be interesting to see what kind of push-back, if any, the commissioners are willing to do.

ANNUAL GENERAL PLAN REVIEW
New Business #1, HERE, is the 2015 Annual Report of the 2000 General Plan, adopted in January, 2002, even though the 2015/2035 General Plan has been approved.  This review is 94 pages of valuable information, most of which is turned on its side, which makes reading and comprehending the information a real chore.  I'll be interested to see how much time the commissioners spend on this issue, since there is already a new General Plan in place.