Costa Mesa’s One Metro West to meet public art mandate through architecture
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The line between art and architecture was contemplated Monday by the Costa Mesa Planning Commission, which had been asked to approve a public art plan for One Metro West — a large residential complex planned north of the 405 freeway.
Designs for the 50,000-square-foot facade did not depict a vast mural, painted surfaces or scenes, but rather a wave-shaped configuration of stepped massing, deckside planters and curved light coves that can change color on demand.
Approved by city leaders in 2021, One Metro West formerly comprised 1,057 units, with 106 set aside for low- and very low-income occupants, office and retail uses, a seven-level parking structure and 1.5 acres of open space near the Santa Ana River trail.
Today, the number of proposed dwellings stands at 957, although affordability units remain, while the former freeway adjacent parking structure, where the art was to be placed, has been relocated underground by developer Rose Equities.
None of that fazed planning commissioners, willing to sign off on the public art plan already reviewed and approved by the city’s Arts Commission during an Oct. 1 meeting.
Brent Stoll of Rose Equities’ said at the Arts Commission meeting that placing the parking structure underground gave the site a softer edge that allowed developers to focus on possible architectural elements along the 405 Freeway.
“It allows us to incorporate something that’s more of an artistic expression that’s blended in with the architecture itself,” he told arts commissioners.
The proposed placement of the architectural features is intended to mimic the shape of a wave when seen by motorists driving by on the freeway. The colored light coves may be changed, but will not flash, move or otherwise distract observers.
At Monday’s Planning Commission meeting, resident Jay Humphrey said the public should have been involved in the art selection for the facade, calling it potentially precedent setting “all the way down to South Coast Plaza and beyond.”
Speaker Cynthia McDonald expressed concern over the possibility One Metro West might someday feature freeway-facing advertising or signage. City staff clarified such placement would require Rose Equities to seek a permit under Costa Mesa’s sign ordinance.
McDonald remained skeptical, recalling how Triangle Square at Newport Boulevard, 19th Street and Harbor Boulevard was prohibited from posting notices for third-party businesses but today prominently displays ads that were never approved.
“Once a highly visible display surface exists, there can be pressure over time to convert it into an advertising platform,” she said. “Learn from the experience at Triangle Square and establish clear expectations from the outset.”
While planning commissioners questioned the appropriateness of adding specific prohibitions into conditions of approval already sanctioned by the City Council, staff agreed to add similar language into the commission’s resolution.
Jake Posnock of San Diego-based Garden Communities, working with Rose Equities on the project, joined Monday’s meeting via Zoom, saying the developer had already requested a permit to install the words “One Metro West” on the facade.
“As far as third-party goes, it was never our intention, nor would we desire the right to do that,” he told commissioners, who approved the art plan in a 6-0 vote (Commissioner Rob Dickson was absent).
