Yorba Linda: Cielo Vista zoning, library bid award

Two Yorba Linda City Council actions – pre-zoning for the near 85-acre Cielo Vista project at the city's northeast border and bid award for construction of the Lakeview Avenue library and arts center – are two key decisions as the panel winds up activities for 2018.

The Cielo Vista property is now in county territory but is in Yorba Linda's sphere of influence, so eventual annexation is almost assured. Pre-zoning will allow a planned development that proposes 80 homes on some 42 acres with about 43 acres of open space.

The council's action does not approve the project but identifies potential zoning “if and when the property is annexed to the city,” according to a report from Senior Planner Greg Rehmer.

Annexation of the property to the city is a multi-step process that will take from three to four months to complete, Rehmer noted. Initial steps include the pre-zoning by the city and an application to the county Local Agency Formation Commission that begins the annexation process.

“The zoning would then become effective at the same time that the annexation becomes effective,” Rehmer stated. The city's General Plan identifies the area as low-density resid-ential and open space, with an overall density of one unit per acre.

Proposed property development standards include a minimum lot size of 7,277 square feet; maximum building height of 35 feet or two stories, whichever is less; 40 percent maximum lot coverage; 10-foot minimum building separation; and minimum of two covered parking spaces.

The bid award totals a bit more than $38.2 million for the two-story, 47,800-square-foot library and a one-story, 15,00-square-foot arts center, with construction to be “substantially complete” by May 2020, according to a report from Max Maximous, the city's public works director.

Five pre-qualified contractors submitted bids, with the second-lowest bidder only $43,000 higher than winner Bernards Bros. Highest bid was some $40.2 million. An estimate from

the project's architect was just under $40.3 million.

“Bernard Bros. has successfully delivered similar civic-related buildings in both Orange County and throughout Southern California,” Maximous stated. He cited as “notable” a 98,000-square-foot Newport Harbor High School building for a theater, library and museum completed on time and within a $46 million budget.

Council authorized budget appropriations, inclusive of prior budgeting for the design phase of about $50.7 million, reflecting full project budget, including contingency (made up from $25.1 million for the library fund's contribution; $15.6 million from lease revenue bonds; and $10 million from a Bastanchury property sale and special reserves).

Not included in the bid award were two alternatives involving outdoor lighting enhancements. One was “festoon lighting” in an “events meadow” east of the arts center and the other was a lighting design to accentuate the building facade.