The Cypress Town Center and Commons ballot measure slated for the November 8 election in Cypress will be discussed in detail at Los Al City Council’s next meeting on August 15.
Los Al Council’s first round of discussions on the ballot measure at their meeting in July resulted in the search for options that the city has for the proposed measure.
Since that meeting a couple of things have happened.
The measure was recently approved by the Orange County District of Voters for receiving the necessary amount of signatures for the November 8 ballot.
The Cypress Town Center and Commons ballot measure slated for the November 8 election in Cypress will be discussed in detail at Los Al City Council’s next meeting on August 15.
Los Al Council’s first round of discussions on the ballot measure at their meeting in July resulted in the search for options that the city has for the proposed measure.
Since that meeting a couple of things have happened.
The measure was recently approved by the Orange County District of Voters for receiving the necessary amount of signatures for the November 8 ballot.
Last night, the Cypress City Council discussed the language for the ballot label, which is what will be sent out to describe the measure to voters.
According to a Cypress staff report, the proposed language for the ballot label asks, “shall an ordinance that approves the ‘Cypress Town Center and Commons Specific Plan’ to allow for development of a town center, single-family and multi-family housing, commercial/senior housing and a public park on portions of Los Alamitos Race Course, the former Cypress Golf Club and adjacent properties, together with related general plan and specific plan amendments and zone changes, be adopted?”
What does this mean if approved?
The zoning codes for the approximate 160-acre Los Alamitos Race Track property would be cut up into five areas:
• A single-family residential area of 78 acres.
• A multi-family residential area of 12 acres.
• A public park area of 20 acres.
• A town center area of 33 acres, which could be supplemented by a 14-acre area slated for mixed-use.
• A commercial/senior house area of about two acres.
During Los Al’s discussions last month, they asked city staff to delve deeper into the issue because of its complexity and overall size, and to come back with a detailed report.
“The first thing that gets to you is the density,” said Los Alamitos Councilmember Troy Edgar at the meeting in July.
The options Los Al has for the effects of the potential development of such a large parcel of land just down the road is what the council wants to understand. Even more so is how to do it without stepping on the toes of the Cypress Council.
“We are looking for options as strategies. After all this is in Cypress,” said Los Alamitos Mayor Richard Murphy at the meeting.
Strategies to cope with increase in people, traffic, and pollution is what Councilmember Dean Grose said he wants city staff look at.
Development Services Director Steven Mendoza said the ballot measure does not have “the data that [Los Al] would normally have for a city council vote of a project.” Mendoza went on to say that the actual impact won’t be known until each individual project application is filed with the City of Cypress.
While the discussion was focused on coming up with ways for Los Al to benefit and ways to mitigate the impact of the project, an overall sense of maintaining a close relationship with Cypress was felt.
“When you say stuff like this you are torn between being a protector of your community and maintaining a relationship with the Cypress City Council,” said Edgar.