Westminster City Council members celebrated the vision that’s been created for the future redevelopment of the 100-acre mall property that would, officials expect, create a downtown feel for the community with places for thousands to live and visitors to spend time well into the evening.
This week, the council put its support behind a specific plan, which will be the framework used to evaluate future proposals from the mix of property owners that make up the large triangular property off the 405 freeway at Bolsa Avenue and Edwards Street.
In recent years, the ownership mix has whittled from seven to four, each of which had representatives at the recent council meeting expressing support for the plan – though with a few wishes for how the retail, parks space or housing might play out.
Specific plans are a tool cities use to establish rules and guidelines for everything from how tall buildings can be to how much park space has to be included, as well as how the land can be used, what kind of look should be created with landscaping and where traffic should be directed.
The plan should be what ensures an element of cohesion among future proposals from the four property owners.
But this is the first time the city has allowed the construction of the more lucrative residential into planning for the mall property.
It would allow up to 3,000 units to be developed, largely in multi-family complexes, and with the requirement that 10% of any home project be affordable housing. While a certain amount of retail is to be required to keep a tax base and jobs in the city, this specific plan allows residential areas to be built on top to create that contemporary mixed-use approach many communities are seeing.
The plan sets a bottom floor of at least 600,000 square feet of retail to be created between the developments, which is about half the retail space existing now. The retail allowance would cap out at 1.2 million square feet.
Bolsa Avenue would be a main gateway into this new community – there is also an exit straight from the freeway – and would be the priority for development of retail and businesses; along Edwards Street would be more residential housing.
Building heights would be limited to three- or four-stories tall near the roads – which are largely surrounded by single-family neighborhoods – and be allowed to go taller as you move back into the property toward the freeway. Upward of 10 stories would be allowed nearer the 405.
Toward the property’s interior, the plan envisions residential, hotels, office buildings, medical offices and 9.5 acres of parks as well as promenades and biking and walking paths.
“We have housing, hotel, retail – I don’t know what else that we need,” Mayor Tri Ta said. “I think this is a great opportunity.”
In hearing from residents through surveys and outreach events, the planners said people “really wanted to see an improved retail experience and attracting new businesses that would be functional for more hours of the day and create new services,” said Wendy Nowak with PlaceWorks, who is part of the project consultant team that worked with Westminster officials. “People wanted to see more energy, more activity.”
As Councilmember Carlos Manzo said he sees it: “We all have dreamed of having a downtown; this can be our downtown.”
Something people did not want to see, the planners said they heard “loud and clear,” were traffic and parking issues created by the developments. Community speakers at the council meeting reiterated those concerns.
Adolfo Ozaeta, Westminster’s assistant city manager, said the roadways around the project have the capacity for more cars without being overwhelmed – excusing for the moment the last few years of freeway widening-related traffic that should end with the construction completion – and the planning of new roads would keep traffic circulating within the project.
There will also be monitoring of how much parking is available, even during construction, he said, to make sure there is enough within the project to meet needs.
The city started the process of creating the specific plan in 2018; it was slowed by the onset of the pandemic.
“Finally we are seeing the light at the end of the tunnel,” Councilmember Kimberly Ho said, speaking to the enormity of the undertaking and the importance of breathing new life into the mall property.
“It is important for this community, it is important for this region. It is probably one of the largest areas of developable space that exists in our time in this area,” said City Manager Christine Cordon. “The specific plan ultimately provides that blueprint for the mall site and it incorporates what the community has provided as what the vision would be.
“The plan would help create that sense of place and gathering for the community,” she said, talking about hopping the bus as a teen to visit the mall, buy CDs and hang out. “This is really our opportunity to create something that we are absolutely proud of for the next generation.”
