News

Housing development proposed near Nixon Library

By DANIEL LANGHORNE / ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER March 6, 2013

A developer is seeking approval from the city to build 51 townhomes across the street from the Richard Nixon Presidential Library & Museum, but it could be months before it is allowed to break ground.

Brett Whitehead, president and chief financial officer of Brandywine Homes, said project’s site plan for the 5.1acre project at Yorba Linda Boulevard and Eureka Avenue is being reviewed by the city’s planning department. The Planning Commission last heard a presentation on the development back in December and Whitehead said he hopes to bring the proposal back to the commissioners for a final vote within 60 days.

“I thought it was a good looking project,” said Dennis Equitz, chairman of the Planning Commission. “I thought it fit in well there.”

Equitz said the proposed Craftsman-style townhomes were similar in design to a triangle of single-family homes that were built north of the Nixon Library. The designs share the use of stucco on the exterior, overlapping wooden siding and triangular gables beneath roofs. Because the preliminary concept drawings of the project are still being reviewed, Whitehead declined to release the plans.

The property, located south of the library, has gone in an out of escrow over the years with different developers, Whitehead said. It is split between three parcels and the owners have lived there for 50 to 60 years, he said.

“These people have had that property for a long time, they want to develop it and move on,” Equitz said.

As a courtesy to his potential neighbors, Whitehead said he met with Sandy Quinn, president of the Richard Nixon Foundation, last week to provide a general overview of the project.

Quinn said he liked the improvements to the landscaping that would face the library. His historical home in Old Towne Orange shares the same design characteristics as the proposed townhouses.

“I like and appreciate that style of architecture,” Quinn said. “I think it’s more fitting for a residential neighborhood like Yorba Linda than a modern look, but that’s a personal taste.”

When asked about the possible impact on traffic around the library, Quinn said he wasn’t worried about cars coming to and from 50 new residences.

Whitehead hopes to have the site plan approved by June, and, if that happens, demolition could also happen in June or July. A complete build out of the development is expected to take two years.