Mixed reaction greets El Camino plan

Jennifer Kho

MESA DEL MAR -- New plans to replace the El Camino Shopping Center

with two-story homes is getting mixed reactions from neighbors.

“The plans for the homes are beautiful, with very attractive design

and the layout is acceptable,” said Nadine Andreen, secretary of the Mesa

Del Mar Homeowners Assn. The association met with the developer, El

Camino Partners LLC, last week to discuss the plans.

“We’re very impressed,” she said. “The homes will be a big improvement

to the Mesa Del Mar area and a great improvement from the shopping center

that is there now. It used to be an attractive center and businesses were

very important to the area once, but it has just gone down, down, down.”

The plan, which has not yet been submitted to the city, would convert

the rundown, 2.5-acre Mesa Del Mar retail center -- bordered by

single-family homes, an office building and apartments -- into

single-family houses.

The City Council agreed in December to consider the medium-density

housing project when it is submitted.

The developer wants to change the shopping center’s zoning from

commercial to residential to appease neighbors, who in March -- when the

developer bought the shopping center with plans to improve it -- argued

the center does not belong in the middle of a primarily residential

neighborhood.

And although nobody opposed the center at the December meeting, some

residents say they are dead set against the change. Plus, the center is

an after-school hangout for a number of Costa Mesa High School students,

who also have mixed opinions about the proposal.

“Since there are already a lot of homes here, I think we need stores

more than we need more homes,” said Patricia Hernandez, a 13-year-old

Costa Mesa High School student who walks through the center and sometimes

buys snacks there on her way home. “We use these stores. There’s also a

clothes store here, and people will have to go to the mall if it closes

down. It’s kind of quiet here, not rushed like the mall, and I just like

it better. And it’s much closer than anything else.”

Beth Magnusen, a 13-year-old who ate at Super Star Burgers Tuesday,

said she is looking forward to the change.

“My parents say this is bringing down the value of our house, so if we

want to sell it in the future, it will be worth less,” she said. “It

makes the area look really trashy, so I’m glad it’s going to change to

housing.”

Other residents, such as those who live in the nearby apartments and

those who don’t have cars, say they rely on the laundermat and

supermarket that are within walking distance.

“We like the shops,” Lele Kibin said. “We will need to go far away to

do our laundry.

“And, basically, we will miss the bar,” he said, laughing.

Merchants could be the hardest hit if the proposal is approved.

Javier Antunes, owner of Antunes Fashion, said he feels betrayed that

the developer is considering breaking their seven-year lease agreement.

Antunes said it took him more than two years to build a solid enough

customer base to make a profit. It will be too difficult to reinvest and

start all over again, he said.

“The city has to understand that,” he said. “I’m going to lose money.

It’s just not correct to shut me down now that I have customers, more

every year. People need this, and the owner should have thought of doing

this before he made the lease. Where am I going to go? How am I going to

pay for my son and my daughter? What are we going to do with this

merchandise? Whose going to pay for all this?”