Residents Fume Over Traffic from Proposed Housing/Hotel Project

A newly elected Planning Commission was greeted by a packed house Wednesday night at Fountain Valley's City Council chambers. However, local residents weren't there to celebrate but to continue voicing their concerns over a hotel and 88 residential units that are being planned to replace a vacant insurance company building near Brookhurst and Slater Avenues.

New Planning Commission Chairman Brad Gaston and Vice Chairman Carol Proctor, along with newly appointed Commissioner Steve Brown and remaining commissioners Marie Drilling, Michelle Jensen and Ronald Walker, heard from a dozen people who will be affected directly by the proposed project that began nearly two years ago.

The project is behind City Hall and the Fountain Valley Police Department. It would replace the Safeco Insurance building, which has been vacant for seven years, a 4,000-square-foot police storage building and an 8,000-square-foot building currently leased to Coastline Community College.

The Olson Company of Costa Mesa is proposing 88 gated residential units. That breaks down to 27 single-family, two-story detached homes with two-car garages; 21 triplex and quadplex units 25 feet tall with two-car garage; and 40 row townhomes, two and three stories with two-car garages. Also included are 240 parking spaces and a 2,300-square-foot storage building.

In addition, the Ayres group would construct a four-story, 50-foot, 124-room hotel that would include 125 parking stalls, a restaurant, swimming pool and conference room.

The people who attended the meeting generally were supportive of the project, but many questioned the number of single-family homes that would create more traffic in an already congested part of town. When an Environmental Impact Report was read stating that it found, “No significant impacts on the study intersections,” the crowd reacted with groans and laughter.

Residents along Los Alamos and artery streets such as Rainbow Circle, El Monterey, La Quinta and La Tortola believe that the amount of traffic coming from the new homes and hotel far exceeds the estimated increase of 41 vehicles per day, and that parking along those streets poses a dangerous situation for the existing homeowners and drivers.

The Olson Company has been working on this site since May 2010, has held 17 small community meetings and seven large meetings, and has submitted 26 site plans over the last two years. But the situation still seems far from being resolved in the eyes of existing residents, many of whom have lived in the Los Alamos neighborhood for more than 20 years.

Here’s a sampling of comments made by local residents during Wednesday’s meeting:

Dominick Pescaralo: “If there’s the validity of the traffic report, I have no confidence in the traffic report. Traffic, flow of routes, parking—those are the problems.”

Don Allchin: “That many cars moving in and out will be disastrous.”

Marie Arciga-Morales: “How can so many people live in such a small space? One of the projects is enough. The population here now is more than enough. Do we want to live in a city that’s comfortable or live in a city like New York? ”

Susan Weil: “We have some very dangerous situations. There’s a preschool in the old library, a Boys and Girls Club after school. Groups of children walking around, and there’s not adequate visitor parking. We already are dealing with the traffic. Please no more. ”

Barbara Tracy: “We are creating gridlock. Slater is a freeway already. We don’t need anymore. Something just isn’t right with this new development.”

Frank Liuzzi: “Instead of, 'A Nice Place to Live,' it should be 'A Congestive Place to Live.' ” (referring to the city's motto).

The Planning Commission concluded by agreeing to continue the item for the next meeting on Feb. 22, “due to the fact that we are still reviewing the development agreement, at which time we hope to make some decisions,” Gaston said.

In other Planning Commission news that was approved:

• A petition by the Orange County Music Conservatory to operate a music and tutoring school at 16139 Brookhurst Street.
• A petition by Home Expressions for a home furnishing retail showroom at 18228 Euclid Street.
• A petition by The Find to operate a retail furniture showroom at 18295 Euclid Street.