The Costa Mesa City Council approved a development plan for the former Fairview Developmental Center with 2,300 new homes, 920 of them affordable, on the lower end of the housing range officials said the state property could accommodate.
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Now at the end of a four-year review process, the City Council unanimously agreed on the vision that will guide the sprawling redevelopment projectthat is expected to help the city meet its state-mandated homebuilding goal of 11,760 new units by 2029.
The final plan significantly lowered the amount of housing outlined in the draft land use document previously approved by the Planning Commission, which would have accommodated up to 4,000 units on the 80 acres of the shuttered Fairview Developmental Center.
The 7-0 vote, which took place just before midnight on Tuesday, Sept. 15, drew applause from audience members who had sat through a five-hour hearing. Many were concerned about the impact of 4,000 new dwellings — and an estimated 10,000 new residents — on traffic, public safety and property values for the surrounding Costa Mesa neighborhoods.
“I just think 4,000 units is almost not habitable,” Mayor John Stephens said, sharing resident concerns about such a high-density housing project off Harbor Boulevard. “I just can’t support that level of density.”
Councilmember Mike Buley said so many units in a contained space would “destroy the character” of Costa Mesa.
“To me, what we’ve really been debating here, whether we go 4,000 units or 1,500 units, is a quality of life issue for people looking for affordable housing, and it’s a quality of life issue for the residents who already exist here,” Buley said. “It’s been extremely difficult to thread this needle.”
Costa Mesa resident Colin Cody-Waters, who is trying to help his aging parents move to Costa Mesa, urges city council members to approve the Fairview Development Center, which could add as many as 4,000 new homes in the city, arguing that “access to various types of housing helps families and builds communities,” during a council meeting in Costa Mesa on Tuesday, September 15, 2026. (Photo by Jeff Antenore, Orange County Register/SCNG)
Costa Mesa resident Walter Reece urges city council members to oppose any new high density housing, arguing that there is already too much traffic on Mesa Verde Drive, where he lives, as the council listens to public comments on both sides of the proposed Fairview Development Center during a council meeting in Costa Mesa on Tuesday, September 15, 2026. (Photo by Jeff Antenore, Orange County Register/SCNG)
A conceptual map on a screen in the Costa Mesa council chambers shows the proposed Fairview Developmental Center, which would add as many as 4,000 new homes in the city, as well as some open space, during a council meeting in Costa Mesa on Tuesday, September 15, 2026. (Photo by Jeff Antenore, Orange County Register/SCNG)
Costa Mesa Mayor John Stephens asks city staff to detail the financial feasibility of the proposed Fairview Developmental Center, which could add 4,000 new homes to the city, during a council meeting at Costa Mesa City Hall on Tuesday, September 15, 2026. (Photo by Jeff Antenore, Orange County Register/SCNG)
Costa Mesa residents applaud as a fellow resident argues that the proposed Fairview Developmental Center should not impact the golf course at the Costa Mesa County Club during a council meeting at Costa Mesa City Hall on Tuesday, September 15, 2026. Public comments were on both sides of the proposed development, with speakers both in favor and opposed to the project getting robust applause from those in attendance. (Photo by Jeff Antenore, Orange County Register/SCNG)
Members of the public listen in as the Costa Mesa City Council weighs whether or not to approve the Fairview Developmental Center, which could add 4,000 new homes to the city, during a council meeting at Costa Mesa City Hall on Tuesday, September 15, 2026. (Photo by Jeff Antenore, Orange County Register/SCNG)
Another point of contention during Tuesday’s meeting was the placement of a secondary access road that staff said would be required to accommodate more than 2,300 units. A proposed path cutting across Mesa Linda Golf Course, considered by many to be an important asset to the city, had sparked strong public pushback.
The council ultimately adopted an alternative plan proposed by Stephens, which supports 2,300 residential units along with 15,000 square feet of commercial space and 25 acres of open space. Crucially, the access road will not run through the golf course. Should a secondary access be deemed necessary, the city will prioritize negotiations with the Department of Developmental Services to use Merrimac Way, which is currently a private road, officials said.
Councilmember Arlis Reynolds also got added language protecting residents from noise and lighting impacts of park amenities, requiring three trees be planted for every one removed and allowing fruit trees to be planted in public areas, provided that they don’t create a pest problem.
A state lawsuit against the city over its housing element — a state-required plan for accommodating new housing to meet statewide needs — loomed over the hours-long hearing Tuesday night. The housing element estimated the Fairview site would accommodate at least 2,300 residential units, 40% of which would be affordable for low- to very-low-income families.
Given the high affordability requirement, a 2,300-unit development likely won’t generate profit for a builder, who might invoke state density bonuses to create more market-rate housing on the property, city planners said. Between 3,500 to 4,000 units would have to be built for the project to be “financially feasible” for a developer, staff said.
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To keep a 2,300-unit project economically viable, Stephens initially proposed building 600 affordable units instead of 920, but staff said that figure was not enough to meet the state-mandated housing goals. The council would have to revise the housing element and identify new sites elsewhere in the city for development.
Councilmember Manuel Chavez said it is not his duty as a city leader to ensure that the project is profitable for a developer.
“From my perspective, it’s been a long journey,” he said. “I’ll vote for any plan today at any unit level that will advance housing on the site.”
The council heard more than 90 minutes of public comments that again highlighted the tension between desires in the community to lower housing costs and minimizing the strain of high-density developments on existing neighbors.
“I’ve talked to people who are homeless, crushed under rent costs, people who have tearfully been forced to leave the city or even the state they’ve called home because they can’t afford it,” said Andrew Kenney, a Costa Mesa resident. “These efforts toward increasing affordability in housing supply are going to change lives.”
Other residents testified about high traffic volumes on Harbor Boulevard and Country Club Drive that would be exacerbated by an influx of new drivers, creating public safety concerns for families with young children, they said.
“What does that do to the residents who have lived here for a long time, who have continued to support the city, who pay high property taxes and now have to settle with more and more traffic throughout neighborhoods?” asked Walter Reese, a resident of the Mesa Verde neighborhood.
The 110-acre Fairview Developmental Center opened in 1959 as a state-operated residential care facility for people with developmental disabilities. It closed in 2015. Seven years later, Costa Mesa received $3.5 million in state funding to develop land use scenarios and conduct public outreach for a project to reuse 80 acres of the property. The state is redeveloping 15 acres of the site into a regional emergency operations center, which broke ground last October.
Since the project is funded by the state, city officials said Costa Mesa needed to comply with the state’s desire to prioritize “affordable housing to the greatest extent feasible,” officials said, including at least 200 units of permanent supportive housing and housing for individuals with developmental disabilities.
Next, the state will select a master developer to take on the project, guided by the plan the council approved this week — it could be a few years before construction breaks ground, and well over a decade before development is complete, officials said.
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