Three Brea incumbents are facing a challenge from two residents in November’s election.
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Andrew Herrera and Blake Perez are looking to grab seats on the City Council, while Cecilia Hupp, Blair Stewart and Steve Vargas are hoping Brea voters will want to return them to the dais.
Hupp joined the council in 2014 at the same time as Vargas made his return. He had previously served from 1998 to 2002. Both Hupp and Vargas were reelected in 2018 and 2022, when Stewart was also elected.
Herrera, a customer relations manager, runs the @enjoybrea social media account, and Perez, a public affairs manager, has attended Brea schools since elementary school.
We asked the candidates questions about housing, city finances, transparency, and more, which you can read in our voter guide.
Here are their answers to a couple of questions:
How can the city best meet the demand and mandates for more housing, including at lower price points, while also preserving local control and the quality of life for existing neighborhoods and residents?
Herrera: Brea currently has several new housing developments under construction, recently completed, or in the early stages of development. These projects include townhomes in the southern part of Brea, apartments at Brea Mall, housing off Imperial Highway, and, of course, the Brea 265 project, which includes 1,100 planned residential units.
I think it’s safe to say that Brea is doing all it can to meet housing demand and state mandates. Residents might even be experiencing development fatigue. I believe that making a greater effort to keep residents informed about new projects should be one of my main objectives as a council member, especially since I am very active in the community.
Hupp: The city can meet housing mandates while protecting neighborhood quality by pairing targeted growth and community-driven planning. The strategy is to expand affordable workforce and senior housing through partnerships with developers and nonprofit providers. Distributing lower-cost homes across multiple neighborhoods rather than concentrating them helps maintain stability, reduces traffic pressure, and supports inclusive growth. Strong community outreach ensures residents shape projects early, improving trust and reducing conflict. Clear design standards, walkability improvements, and infrastructure upgrades allow added density without eroding livability. By aligning zoning updates, incentives, and neighborhood input, the city can increase supply, lower costs, and preserve the character and comfort of existing communities.
Perez: I believe that our Brea 2050 Plan and the included Brea Core Specific Plan will help us achieve that balance. The Core Plan specifically focuses on growth in the area of the city already experiencing growth in order to reduce the pressure on the outlying portions of the city, especially our hillside areas.
I served on the community steering committee and on the Planning Commission that voted to recommend adoption of the plans. Throughout the process, I was very mindful of creating this balance between meeting demographic and state mandates and protecting what makes Brea a special community. I grew up here, and I am raising my family here, so I care deeply about striking this balance.
We should encourage a wider range of housing types, sizes, and affordability levels so seniors, young families, working residents, and future generations have opportunities to remain in Brea.
I do not want our city to be under Sacramento’s eye, facing monthly fines and a loss of our land-use control. Brea can best preserve local control by planning proactively for housing and maintaining compliance with state law.
Stewart: Before increasing density in established single-family neighborhoods, the city should continue prioritizing infill and underutilized properties, including commercial corridors, appropriate mixed-use locations and obsolete office spaces. Brea’s housing element identifies these opportunities.
We should continue to encourage a range of housing choices from apartments, townhomes, workforce housing and ADUs. When we implement these housing options, standards, such as building heights, thoughtful setbacks, parking solutions and landscaping design, should prioritize protecting established surrounding neighborhoods. And most importantly, the city of Brea, not Sacramento legislators, should determine where growth makes sense for our city.
Vargas: Focus on workforce housing for residents and employees to minimize incoming traffic. Lower building fees and costs charged by the city to facilitate building projects that benefit the local workforce needed to sustain local government programs.
Brea has over 1,300 homes already entitled and approved for construction; we will meet our RHNA numbers mandated by the state. Workforce housing for our young and working families is what is needed and can be accomplished by spending the redevelopment dollars Brea has been sitting on for the past 10 years.
Auxiliary Dwelling Units have become all the rage at the state level; they can be useful, but not by allowing lot splits and numerous units to be built by outside developers without adequate parking. ADUs should be restricted to owner-occupied residents with covenants to prevent profiteering.
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In your opinion, what is the biggest need your city faces, and how would you address it?
Herrera: I believe we need to make a greater effort to promote our city across the county, state, and even the country. We have so much to offer and so many great amenities that we need to embrace and emphasize those things. We have Brea Mall, Carbon Canyon Regional Park, the Brea Improv, and the list goes on.
We need to let everyone know that Brea is a great place to visit for a night out or a weekend getaway. At the same time, we should remind our residents that there is really no need to leave the city to find great experiences and adventures.
Hupp: Public safety is a No. 1 priority for all of our cities. The need to provide affordable housing while maintaining our hillside backdrops is also important.
The city’s biggest priority is maintaining strong public safety while managing state housing mandates and preserving the community’s character. Public safety must remain the foundation of safe neighborhoods, allowing every other priority to function.
Perez: Brea’s biggest challenge is balancing growth with protecting the qualities that make our community special. We cannot freeze the city in time and expect it to remain successful. Thoughtful growth and reinvestment are necessary to support local businesses, strengthen city revenues, and maintain the services and infrastructure residents expect.
Most future growth will come through redeveloping existing properties rather than building on vacant land. That is understandably difficult because these places have history and meaning for residents. Responsible growth must therefore be focused in appropriate areas, supported by adequate infrastructure, and guided by design standards that respect surrounding neighborhoods.
Achieving that balance will require honest and sincere community engagement that begins early, not after major decisions have already been made. City leaders must listen, explain the tradeoffs involved, and demonstrate how community feedback shaped the outcome. Not everyone will agree with every final decision, but refusing all change is not a sustainable solution. If Brea is to remain a place where people can raise a family, build a business, or age in place, we must prepare for the future without forgetting where we came from.
Stewart: I believe Brea’s biggest need is maintaining the quality of life the residents value and are accustomed to. We do this by prioritizing essential services and making sure taxpayers’ dollars are producing measurable results.
Also, we maintain our infrastructure and address liabilities before they become larger and more expensive problems. Lastly, continue to grow Brea’s economic base.
Vargas: We need more opportunities for our youth to be engaged in Brea. Our recently rebuilt skate park has been closed for nearly two years due to the mismanagement of the Arovista Park renovation. We need to hold the contractor accountable and get the skate park open ASAP!
We have 15 acres of secluded open space by our dog park that could be an off-road bicycle course to keep the e-bike kids off the sidewalks, at least until something more permanent is considered.
We have great local, regional and state parks, where we could host large-scale community events like a Renaissance Faire for youths to get off their game consoles for the weekend. There are a lot of low-cost events that local governments can do if the leadership is behind it, we need a more vibrant effort to keep young minds engaged in community involvement and building new relationships.
Brea citizens passed a $160 million school bond in 2024, Measure H. The high school football field improvements are not expected to be completed until 2029. We need to support the school district with available expertise to facilitate an improved schedule to focus on this project that benefits all Brea kids.
Read more of the voter guide, including what the candidates said would make them good leaders and how they would represent the city’s diverse community at ocregister.com/voter-guide.
Ballots may be returned by mail (must be postmarked by Nov. 3 and received within a week of Election Day) or to the OC Registrar of Voters’ drop boxes around town now, and the first vote centers will open for casting ballots in person on Oct. 24.
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