By Eric Engelbert

Update: May 2026. The City of Costa Mesa has released the Draft Fairview Developmental Center (FDC) Specific Plan and Draft Environmental Impact Report. Public comments closed April 15, 2026. The Plan is not yet approved. It still has to clear Planning Commission and City Council, with a final document expected in late 2026. A Master Developer has not yet been selected. The State is still accepting bids.

The next big Orange County golf-course fight isn't about losing a course. It's about a road across one.

I've written about Newport Beach Golf Course and the proposed wave pool. I've written about Oak Creek Golf Club becoming 3,100 new homes. Both of those stories follow the same pattern: a developer wants the land, the golfers want their course, and the city tries to thread the needle.

The Fairview Developmental Center fight in Costa Mesa is different. The course itself isn't being sold. The land isn't even owned by the same entity. And the law that's driving the whole thing isn't really about housing. It's about how little say a city actually has once the state gets involved.

What's Actually Being Proposed

The Fairview Developmental Center sits on Harbor Boulevard, almost completely surrounded by the Costa Mesa Municipal Golf Course, the public Costa Mesa Country Club, home to both the Los Lagos and Mesa Linda layouts. The FDC site is state-owned, about 100 acres, and slated to be sold or long-term-leased to a Master Developer.

What the Draft Specific Plan contemplates:

  • 2,300 to 4,000+ residential units
  • About 35,000 sq ft of retail/commercial
  • Population of 5,744 to 10,232 residents at full build-out
  • 18 to 20 years of cleanup and construction
  • A tower at the western edge that could reach up to 18 stories

The state's plan has the developer paying roughly $1 for the land in exchange for taking on environmental remediation of the old developmental center. The financials don't pencil out until around 3,500 units. Less density, no deal.

The Golf Course Is in the Crossfire, Literally

Here's the part that has Costa Mesa golfers up in arms. If unit counts grow past certain thresholds, and under California's State Density Bonus Law they almost certainly will, the project triggers a need for a second access road. The only practical route for that road cuts directly across active holes on the municipal course.

From a scratch handicap, the issues are obvious:

  • 2 to 5 holes get re-routed at minimum.
  • Without serious screening, you've got shattered windshields on the new road.
  • The Draft Plan says hole relocation is "the developer's responsibility," but it does not require the redesign to be done to the City's satisfaction, and it doesn't tie the work to a binding development agreement.
  • Translation: nothing in the document forces the developer to pay for a good redesign. The cheapest fix that fits on paper is legally fine.

Why This Fight Is Different: It's Really About State Housing Law

At Oak Creek, the Irvine Company owns the land and wants to redevelop it. The City Council has real leverage. At Newport Beach, the airport-area parcel is also privately owned. The city negotiates from a position of authority.

At Fairview, Costa Mesa has almost none of that leverage. Here's why.

The land is state-owned. The City of Costa Mesa has the right to review the deal between the State and the developer. It doesn't have the right to approve it. The Specific Plan is the city's one real tool, and even that gets weakened by what comes next.

State Density Bonus Law overrides local zoning. Once a developer dedicates a meaningful percentage of units to affordable housing, the state allows them to exceed local density limits and claim up to five "concessions," things like increased height, reduced setbacks, and reduced parking. The 2,300-unit count in the Housing Element is a floor, not a ceiling. A developer can legally push that number well above 3,500, and that pushes traffic above the threshold where a second access road becomes mandatory.

Costa Mesa is under state housing mandate pressure. The city's 6th Cycle Housing Element targets more than 17,000 new units citywide. The FDC site is the single largest housing opportunity parcel the city has. Block this one and the state's enforcement options get a lot more interesting.

This is why politicians look like they're dismissing golfer concerns. From a council seat, blocking the road to save a handful of holes can look like vetoing the entire project. And once the project is dead, the state can step in and force something worse. They're not being indifferent. They're playing a board where most of their pieces have already been taken off.

Is This a Done Deal?

Not yet. The Draft Specific Plan is out for review. The Draft EIR will trigger a 45-day public comment period. After that comes Planning Commission, then City Council. A Master Developer hasn't even been selected. The State is still taking bids. Final Plan adoption is expected in late 2026.

What's Already Happened and What's Still Ahead

The public input phase wrapped up this spring. The final round of community workshops ran in late March 2026:

  • A workshop at the Costa Mesa Municipal Golf Course drew around 50 attendees, almost all golfers. Councilmembers Buley, Marr, and Reynolds, along with Planning Commissioner Zich, were there to watch.
  • A second workshop at the Senior Center was sparsely attended.
  • The final session was held virtually on Zoom.
  • Public comments on the Draft Specific Plan closed April 15, 2026.

Former Vice Mayor Jay Humphrey publicly called for a true town hall during the golf course meeting. Staff said no. About ten residents made it clear they disagreed, and that frustration with the format has not gone away.

What still has to happen before anything is approved:

  1. City staff revises the Specific Plan based on the public comments received.
  2. The Final Environmental Impact Report is released, triggering a 45-day public review period.
  3. Planning Commission hearings and a recommendation.
  4. City Council final consideration and adoption, expected in late 2026.
  5. The State selects a Master Developer (bids are still being accepted).

If you want a say in how Costa Mesa Country Club survives this, the Planning Commission and City Council hearings later this year are where it has to happen.

My Opinion: If the Course Loses, Here's What I'd Fight For

I'll be honest. I think there's a strong chance some version of this development happens, and a real chance the road across the golf course goes with it. The state's leverage is real, the financials only work at higher density, and the city's options are narrower than most residents realize.

So if we accept that some of the course is going to change, my proposal, and what I'd be pushing the City to extract from the Master Developer as a community benefit, looks like this:

A redesign worth losing holes over. Paid for by the developer.

  1. Build a short par-3/par-4 course playable in about two hours. Use the affected acreage to create something genuinely useful: a place beginners, juniors, working parents, and seniors can actually finish a round on a weekday evening.
  2. Lengthen and improve the remaining championship course to a true 7,500 yards. Bring it up to modern tournament standards. Costa Mesa deserves a course that holds up to today's distances.
  3. Keep the practice facility intact and modernized. The driving range is one of the most-used in Orange County. Lights, mats, target greens. All of it should be preserved and upgraded, not shrunk.
  4. Hold green fees flat. Written into the development agreement. No carve-outs. No "subject to operating costs" loopholes. The community gives up holes; the community keeps the prices.

Why Affordability Has to Be Non-Negotiable

The thing that makes Costa Mesa Country Club worth fighting for isn't the prestige. It's the access. This is one of the few places left in coastal Orange County where someone earning a regular paycheck can play a real 18-hole course, hit balls on a championship-grade range, and get instruction from a teaching pro, without remortgaging the house.

People come here from all over Orange County. The weather is great. The price is right. The range is busy seven days a week. Juniors learn here. Retirees walk loops here. Working adults sneak in nine holes after work. Coaches and instructors build careers here.

If the redesign that comes out of this development raises green fees, we haven't preserved a public golf course. We've replaced an affordable one with a nicer one most of the people who use it today can't afford.

That isn't a win. That's the loss everyone says they're trying to prevent.

What This Means for Costa Mesa Real Estate

Whether you like the project or not, the Fairview plan is going to shape the local market for years:

  • Inventory: Even on the low end, 2,300 new units changes the supply picture in central Costa Mesa.
  • Affordability mix: A meaningful share is required to be income-restricted, but the market-rate units will likely price to the West-of-405 / Mesa Verde area.
  • Adjacent home values: Homes facing the golf course remain a premium product, if the course remains a functioning amenity. A degraded or fee-hiked course erodes that premium.
  • Traffic and quality of life: Build-out spans 18–20 years. That's two decades of construction impact on Harbor, Fair Drive, and the OC Fair corridor.

The Bigger Question

Can a city under state housing pressure protect the public amenities that already define it? Costa Mesa is about to find out. Costa Mesa Country Club isn't a private club hiding behind a gate. It's a working, busy, affordable, community course that genuinely serves the people who live here. That's worth a fight, not to stop the housing, but to make sure the price of building it isn't paid by the residents who use the course most.

Explore Homes for Sale Near Costa Mesa Country Club

If you're considering a move in the area, especially before the Fairview plan moves toward final approval, explore current listings in Costa Mesa and the surrounding cities most likely to feel the ripple effects:

  1. Costa Mesa: Homes for Sale in Costa Mesa
  2. Newport Beach: Homes for Sale in Newport Beach
  3. Irvine: Homes for Sale in Irvine
  4. Santa Ana: Homes for Sale in Santa Ana

Other OC Golf-Course Development Stories We've Covered

  1. Oak Creek Golf Club may become 3,100 new homes: what's next for Irvine?
  2. Newport Beach Golf Course, surf park, and housing: the airport area transformation

How to Stay Involved

The Draft Specific Plan and Draft Environmental Impact Report are available for public review at fdcplan.com. The Draft EIR will open a 45-day public comment period, then move to Planning Commission, and finally to City Council for adoption. If you want a say in how Costa Mesa Country Club survives this, those hearings are where it has to happen.

The course isn't going away tomorrow. But the document that decides what it looks like a decade from now is being written right now.