Costa Mesa approves Fairview Development Center project

A large-scale housing development has been approved on the former site of a state hospital campus in Costa Mesa.

The City Council last week approved a plan for 2,300 residences on the former hospital site known as the Fairview Developmental Center that would include 920 units designated as affordable for qualified low-income tenants.

The decision advances a long process to reuse the sprawling hospital property that once housed more than 2,500 patients but was closed in 2022 as the state shifted care for individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities toward community-based group homes and independent living.

No developer has been selected to build the project and plans don’t specify what the housing should look like. A development this scale would typically include apartment buildings and other multiunit housing formats.

The complex will have 35,000 square feet of commercial space that a draft environmental impact report described as including stores, restaurants, coffee shops, fitness studios, and childcare facilities.

The plan includes 25 acres of publicly accessible open space that supports uses such as parks, plazas, walking and biking trails, recreation centers and picnic areas.

Council members resisted terms of a plan approved by the Planning Commission that would have allowed as many as 4,000 units on the 80-acre site, even though the city is under pressure from the state to create more housing.

The city must add 11,760 residential units by the end of the decade to meet state housing mandates.

The adopted plan also spares, at least for now, changes to the Mesa Linda golf course at the city-owned Costa Mesa Country Club.

The club would have been cleaved by a secondary access road if the unit count exceeded 2,300, the Daily Pilot reported.

The unit count could still grow because the state grants density bonuses to developers who include enough affordable units to meet certain thresholds.

Councilmember Arlis Reynolds said the proposal is timely, considering an estimated one-half of Costa Mesans are paying more than 30% of their income on housing, the Daily Pilot said.

“There are a lot of trade-offs in this project, but a driving force from the beginning is looking for opportunities for affordable housing,” Reynolds said. “Having stable, affordable housing is foundational to having a better life in Costa Mesa.”