After much discussion and pushback from concerned residents, the Anaheim City Council delayed making a decision on the housing development proposed at the Anaheim Hills Festival shopping center to Feb. 3.
Developers want to turn the Anaheim Hills shopping center’s shuttered Regal Cinema into a four-story residential building, wrapped around a five-level parking structure. The public hearing held on Tuesday had been rescheduled from early December.
That project would include 447 apartment units, an additional 954 parking spaces, a clubhouse, swimming pools, a fitness center, and potentially, an enclosed dog park at the shopping center’s southern end.
The council is considering a general plan amendment, amending the site plan for the shopping center area, a final site plan and a development agreement for the project.
Dozens of residents who’ve sent letters to the council and attended Tuesday’s meeting expressed overwhelming concern for fire safety and the slowing of evacuations with the addition of more homes.
The proposed housing would be built less than a quarter mile east of the Deer Canyon Preserve, an area that saw two major fires in 2017, concerned residents pointed out.
The city’s “Know Your Way” evacuation and emergency preparedness plan that was developed after the Canyon fires was mentioned several times by developers as a fire safety measure.
The developers have also offered $100,000 in a community benefit contribution to the Anaheim Fire and Rescue to fund wildfire prevention efforts.
But residents expressed ongoing concerns and the council unanimously decided to put a hold on a conclusive vote.
Mayor Ashely Aitken said she was “extremely concerned about adding housing to this part of District 6.”
“I would appreciate just being a bit more educated,” she said, “on what are our other options that District 6 can put forward that are not in that high fire zone.”
The council in 2024 rejected a 498-unit apartment complex nearby in Deer Canyon over similar concerns related to evacuations and the area’s proneness to blazes.
Before the council revisits the proposed housing development in February, city staff will reevaluate the Anaheim Hills shopping center’s development agreement to “determine if there are additional opportunities to maximize community benefits,” city spokesperson Esther Kwon said.
“We’re looking at the additional items the public and council expressed concern and interest in, including labor and evacuation, among other things,” she said.