What Costa Mesa is about to decide
Costa Mesa’s Planning Commission meets on the second and fourth Monday of each month at 6:00 p.m. Three public hearings, and the third is the big one. These are pending items from the posted agenda — not outcomes. Every item links to the official record.
Source: official agenda (PDF) · Legistar meeting detail
The headline: the commission takes up “Neighborhoods Where We All Belong” — a citywide rewrite that would amend five General Plan elements, update the zoning map, create citywide multifamily and mixed-use objective design standards, and repeal the city’s urban plans. The commission does not adopt it: it would recommend that the City Council certify a Program EIR and approve the package. Also up: a height variance for Dick’s House of Sport on Harbor Boulevard and a conditional use permit for a commercial padel facility.
🏘 A citywide zoning rewrite heads to the council
- “Neighborhoods Where We All Belong” (PCTY-26-0004, PGPA-26-0002). The item covers a proposed zoning code amendment, a zoning map update, establishment of citywide multifamily residential and mixed-use objective design standards, and the repealing of urban plans, together with amendments to the Circulation, Community Design, Land Use, Noise, and Open Space and Recreation elements of the General Plan. Item 3
- What the commission would actually do: adopt a resolution recommending that the City Council certify the Program Environmental Impact Report and Mitigation Monitoring and Reporting Program for the Neighborhoods Where We All Belong zoning updates and Housing Element implementation, and amend the General Plan. The final decision rests with the council. Item 3
- Listed attachments include an SB 4 memorandum and survey, a housing production incentives memorandum, public comments received by the commission, and a reference guide linking the exhibit documents. Item 3
🏬 A taller store, and a padel club
- Dick’s House of Sport, 2200 Harbor Boulevard, Unit K. Variance PVAR-26-0001 would allow the retail use to exceed the maximum 30-foot building height. Staff recommends finding the project categorically exempt from CEQA under Guidelines Section 15301 (Existing Facilities) and approving the variance subject to conditions. The agenda does not state the proposed height. Item 1
- Padel Up, 2045 Harbor Boulevard. Conditional Use Permit PCUP-25-0021 would allow a proposed commercial padel facility. Staff recommends finding it categorically exempt under CEQA Guidelines Section 15332 (Infill Development Project) and approving the permit subject to conditions. Item 2
- The padel application comes with an unusually full technical record for a CUP: a noise study, air quality study and traffic study by MD Acoustics, and a Class 32 memo and peer review by EPD Solutions. Item 2
🪑 Also on the agenda
- Approval of the August 10, 2026 regular meeting minutes, listed on the agenda as “unofficial” draft minutes. Old business and new business are both listed as “NONE.” Item 26-403
- A Community Development report and a City Attorney’s report, with no action listed.
- How to appeal: the agenda states that unless otherwise indicated, a Planning Commission decision is final at 5:00 p.m. seven days after the action unless an affected party appeals to the City Council or a council member requests a review. No dollar figures appear on the posted agenda.
Council Brief summaries are produced from official public records by our automated newsroom and reviewed before publication. Items are described as posted; the council may amend, continue, or remove items at the meeting. Spot an error? hello@councilbrief.com — we publish corrections.
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