Posted July 2026 | Updated September 22, 2026 | By Eric Engelbert | Updated as the project moves through the approval process.

Costa Mesa Approves the Fairview Redevelopment

If you have driven past 2501 Harbor Boulevard in Costa Mesa recently, you may have noticed a large crane and fresh ground disturbance along the western edge of the old Fairview Developmental Center property. Construction is underway on the Cal OES Emergency Operations Center in the southwest corner of the site, and demolition of the remaining hospital buildings is progressing on the housing portion. This is one of the largest land redevelopment projects in Orange County history, and it is now moving from planning to reality.

The Fairview Developmental Center occupied a prime piece of Costa Mesa for more than 60 years. Now, roughly 100 acres of that land is set to become a new mixed-income residential neighborhood. On September 15, 2026, the Costa Mesa City Council voted unanimously to approve the Specific Plan, the Environmental Impact Report, and the General Plan Amendment. In doing so, the council capped the project at 2,300 homes and, for now, spared the adjacent municipal golf course from having a road cut through it. A master developer still had not applied for the site as of the vote, which has raised questions about market interest. When it is complete, this project will add thousands of housing units to a city that has been under intense state pressure to produce more homes.

This blog covers the development factually: what the site is, who fought over its future, what was approved, who will build it, what the golf course situation is, and what happens next. If you want to read more about the golf course pressure angle specifically, we have a companion piece linked at the bottom of this page. 

September 15, 2026 Update: City Council Approves the Fairview Plan

After more than 40 residents spoke during public comment, the Costa Mesa City Council voted unanimously to approve the Fairview Specific Plan, the Environmental Impact Report, and the General Plan Amendment. The approval settles several questions that were still open when this post was first written, and it changed the plan in two important ways.

Capped at 2,300 homes

The council rejected the higher-density scenarios and capped the project at 2,300 units, well below the roughly 4,000 the site could physically hold. Council members pointed to traffic and the prospect of around 10,000 new residents. City staff had estimated that a master developer needs roughly 3,450 units for the deal to pencil out, so the approved number sits below what staff called financially feasible, and staff cautioned that the city may need to revise its Housing Element again to keep meeting state targets. The state's density bonus law still allows a developer to seek units above the cap in exchange for more affordable housing, so the final number could grow.

Golf course spared, for now

Rather than routing a secondary road through the Mesa Linda municipal golf course, the council backed Mayor John Stephens' alternative. Construction will begin without the secondary road. If resident numbers eventually require another access route, the city will first try to negotiate use of Merrimac Way, a nearby private road, before any route through the golf course is considered. As Stephens put it at the hearing, you do not cut a 60-foot road through a mature golf course without mitigation in front of the body authorizing it.

Other specifics

The approved plan includes about 920 affordable units for low and very-low income households, roughly 25 acres of open space, and between 10,000 and 35,000 square feet of commercial space. No master developer had applied as of the vote, and the state's separate 15-acre Cal OES emergency campus continues on its own schedule.

The sections below reflect this approval. Earlier process history is kept for context.

What Was the Fairview Developmental Center?

Fairview State Hospital opened in 1959 on 752 acres in Costa Mesa to house individuals with developmental disabilities. At its peak, it was one of the largest state-operated facilities of its kind in California. In 1979, much of the original acreage was transferred to the City of Costa Mesa as the state began shifting to community-based group homes. The campus shrank considerably, eventually settling at approximately 121 acres along Harbor Boulevard, adjacent to the Costa Mesa Municipal Golf Course.

The California Legislature approved a closure plan for Fairview in 2016. The final residents were transitioned out of the facility by October 2022. Senate Bill 188, signed by Governor Newsom in 2022, formalized the partnership between the State Department of Developmental Services, the State Department of General Services, and the City of Costa Mesa to determine what would happen to the property next. Housing was identified as the priority use under the agreement, with any housing required to include affordable units and priority for deed-restricted housing for individuals with developmental disabilities.

Address 2501 Harbor Blvd, Costa Mesa
Total Site Approximately 121 acres
Housing Portion Approximately 100 acres (after Cal OES allocation)
Cal OES Portion 15 acres (SW corner), groundbreaking October 2025
Original Opening 1959
Original Acreage 752 acres
Closure Approved 2016 (California Legislature)
Last Residents Out October 2022

The Fight Over What the Site Would Become

Before housing became the settled direction, Costa Mesa had to push back against a competing proposal. The City of San Clemente and other advocates were pushing for the Fairview site to be converted into a large regional homeless shelter and services campus. Costa Mesa's elected officials and city staff were firmly opposed and spent significant time and effort lobbying Sacramento to keep the site designated for housing.

City Manager Lori Ann Farrell Harrison confirmed the city's active lobbying efforts. Former Mayor and then-Orange County Supervisor Katrina Foley made personal trips to Sacramento to make the case that Costa Mesa's housing needs and its state Housing Element obligations made a residential community the right use for the property. Governor Newsom ultimately sided with Costa Mesa's position and put a stop to the homeless shelter proposal.

The result is the approved plan: housing as the primary use, with a mix of income levels required by state law and the State-City agreement. The City's 6th Cycle Housing Element, which Costa Mesa submitted to the state to meet its Regional Housing Needs Assessment (RHNA) obligations, lists Fairview as a key housing opportunity site and counts 2,300 units there toward the city's production targets. That backdrop grew more contentious in July 2026, when the state Attorney General and Governor sued Costa Mesa over its failure to adopt a certified 6th Cycle Housing Element, seeking a court order compelling compliance.

The Development Plan: What Was Approved

The City of Costa Mesa developed the Specific Plan for the Fairview site starting in September 2023, led by city planning staff and the consulting firm Placeworks. The plan establishes the land use rules, density limits, design standards, mobility framework, and infrastructure requirements that any future developer must follow. A Public Hearing Draft was released in July 2026, the Planning Commission forwarded the plan on August 10, 2026, and the City Council adopted it on September 15, 2026.

The adopted plan sets a cap of 2,300 housing units at a mix of income levels. Under California's State Density Bonus Law, a developer who includes a certain percentage of affordable units can request additional density beyond what a plan allows, and the site could physically hold up to roughly 4,000 units. City staff estimated that the project does not become economically viable for a master developer until roughly 3,450 units, because the developer receives the land for essentially no cost in exchange for absorbing all site remediation expenses. At the September 15 hearing, the council chose the 2,300-unit cap anyway, prioritizing traffic and neighborhood concerns over the higher-density economics.

The plan also includes between 10,000 and 35,000 square feet of neighborhood-serving retail and commercial space, such as restaurants, coffee shops, fitness studios, and childcare, plus roughly 25 acres of open space. A senior housing tower of up to 18 stories is planned near the western edge of the site. The full buildout is expected to take 18 to 20 years.

Approved Housing Units 2,300 (council-approved cap, Sept 15, 2026)
Site Capacity with Density Bonus Up to roughly 4,000 (not approved)
Staff Feasibility Estimate About 3,450 units for a developer to pencil out
Affordable Units About 920 low and very-low income
Open Space Approximately 25 acres
Commercial Space Between 10,000 and 35,000 SF (retail, restaurants, childcare)
Max Building Height Up to 18 stories (senior tower, western edge)
Buildout Timeline 18 to 20 years
Specific Plan Adoption Approved September 15, 2026

In addition to the primary housing, two state bills allow for specialized uses within the site. SB 82 permits up to 20 acres for mixed-income housing for people with developmental disabilities. SB 138 authorizes up to three complex needs homes for individuals with developmental disabilities, up to 15 residents total, with the state budgeting $10.5 million for their construction.

Who Will Build It? Master Developer Still to Be Selected

As of the September 15, 2026 approval, no master developer had applied for the Fairview housing site. The State Department of General Services opened the application process in March 2026. At the August 10 Planning Commission hearing, Principal Planner Melinda Dacey stated publicly that to her knowledge no application had been submitted, more than five months after the process opened, and none had surfaced by the council vote. The absence of any applicant drew significant attention from commissioners and observers. The reasons are not confirmed, but likely candidates include the ongoing legal dispute between the State and the City over housing compliance, the financial difficulty of the deal structure, and uncertainty about who controls the final development agreement terms.

The structure of the deal is unusual compared to a typical land sale. The developer is expected to receive the land for effectively no money, or possibly a nominal amount such as one dollar, or through a long-term ground lease of up to 99 years. In exchange, the developer takes on full responsibility for cleaning up the site and all infrastructure costs. Because contamination on the property is concentrated primarily in the former maintenance yard and central kitchen areas, cleanup costs are a significant financial variable. The most recent detailed environmental study was never finalized, which means some uncertainty remains about the total cost of remediation. That uncertainty, combined with the council's decision to cap units below the level staff called financially feasible, may factor into how quickly a developer steps forward.

Once the State selects a master developer, that developer will be required to build according to the Specific Plan adopted by Costa Mesa's City Council. The master developer may sell individual parcels to sub-developers over the life of the project, but all of those parcels must comply with the plan's standards. Two separate development agreements will be required: one between the State and the master developer, and one between the City and the master developer.

The Golf Course: Spared for Now After the September Vote

Update: At the September 15, 2026 hearing, the City Council voted to keep the golf course intact for now. Rather than committing to a road through the course, the council adopted Mayor John Stephens' approach: build the early phases without the secondary road, and if higher resident numbers eventually require another access point, negotiate for Merrimac Way before considering any golf-course route. As Stephens put it at the hearing, a mature golf course that opened in the 1960s should not have a 60-foot road cut through it with no mitigation in front of the government body authorizing it.

Here is the background that led to that decision. The Fairview site is largely surrounded by the Costa Mesa Municipal Golf Course (Mesa Linda). Earlier drafts of the Specific Plan included a secondary access road that would run through a portion of the golf course, approximately 4,650 linear feet in length. Under those drafts, the road would have become required once development density crossed a threshold. With the council's 2,300-unit cap, that threshold is not reached in the initial plan.

At the August 10, 2026 Planning Commission hearing, a golf consultant's analysis was discussed. Staff stated the consultant concluded that the affected holes would be reconfigured and relocated rather than permanently eliminated, and that the total number of holes in the course would be maintained. That finding did not satisfy critics. Representatives of the Southern California Golf Association testified at the hearing, along with coaches and golfers, raising concerns about disruption to youth programs, high school and college golf, and the heavy public use the course receives. Their position was that any routing through the course was unacceptable and that the City should exhaust alternatives first.

The primary alternative, Merrimac Way, is a private roadway that currently runs along the eastern side of the Harbor Village shopping center. Multiple speakers argued that Merrimac Way exists as a historical right-of-way and that a public easement may exist, which would allow it to be used as a secondary access route without touching the golf course. Staff responded that to its knowledge no recorded public easement exists on Merrimac Way, and the current lease on the corridor expires in December 2036. The adopted plan now directs the city to pursue Merrimac Way as the secondary access route if one becomes necessary, and to keep exploring alternatives, before any routing through the course would be considered. In short, the road through the golf course is now a last resort rather than a built-in requirement.

If you are interested in the broader context of golf courses facing pressure from housing development across Orange County, we have a separate blog that covers this topic in more depth: [link to companion golf course blog].

Fairview Development Center From Mesa Linda GC

Money, Cleanup, and Traffic

The cost structure of this project is unlike a conventional development deal. Because the land is state-owned and being transferred for housing as a policy priority, the State is expected to hand over the property at little to no cost. The developer absorbs the site remediation bill in return. Estimates for cleanup costs are based in part on what the State paid to clean up the 15-acre Cal OES parcel in the southwest corner. City staff estimated the project only reaches financial viability for a developer at approximately 3,450 units, which indicates the cleanup costs are substantial. Despite that analysis, the council approved the 2,300-unit cap on September 15, prioritizing traffic and neighborhood impacts, and staff noted the city may need to revisit its Housing Element as a result.

Site contamination is concentrated primarily in the former maintenance yard, which the State is retaining for low-income housing construction, and the former central kitchen, which falls within the housing development area. An updated Phase II environmental report covering the full site had not been completed as of early 2026, leaving some uncertainty about final costs and whether contamination in the maintenance yard area could be migrating toward the housing parcels.

The EIR traffic analysis, reviewed at the August 10 Planning Commission hearing and adopted with the plan on September 15, uses modeling rather than a traditional traffic study because this is a program-level EIR. The Harbor Boulevard and Fair Drive intersection is projected to operate at Level of Service D (LOS D), which is the City's minimum acceptable standard, with project improvements in place. However, the cumulative 2045 analysis shows Harbor/Fair, Placentia Avenue, and Victoria Street all degrading to LOS E, which is below the City's standard. Critics also noted that the traffic model explicitly did not evaluate peak-period congestion during the annual OC Fair or the Huntington Beach Air Show, two events that heavily impact Harbor Boulevard each summer. Commissioners also raised the concern that if a developer later uses State Density Bonus Law to add units beyond the plan's cap, the traffic analysis could become understated. The EIR identified four categories of significant and unavoidable impacts that remain even after mitigation: air quality, biological resources (the golf course pond area), cultural resources (historic Fairview features), and greenhouse gas emissions.

September 2026 Update: Plan Approved, Developer Search Continues

The Fairview project has moved through several major milestones since this blog was first published in July 2026. Here is the current sequence of events and what comes next.

A community town hall was held July 23, 2026 at the Norma Hertzog Community Center. The Planning Commission held a study session on July 27, then convened a full public hearing on August 10, 2026 that ran more than four and a half hours. After extensive public comment, commissioners voted 4-2 to forward the Specific Plan and EIR to the City Council. Commissioners Andrade, Harlan, Klepack, and Martinez voted yes. Commissioners Dickson and Zich voted no and moved a substitute motion to delay approval and seek additional State negotiations, additional traffic analysis, and a revised public process. That substitute motion failed 2-4.

On September 15, 2026, the City Council held its hearing and voted unanimously to adopt the Specific Plan, General Plan Amendment, and EIR. More than 40 residents spoke during public comment, with support for more affordable housing and opposition centered on the golf course and traffic. The council capped the project at 2,300 units and backed the Merrimac Way approach that keeps the golf course intact for now.

There was no public ballot referendum or initiative. The Council vote was the decision point.

With the plan adopted, the State now moves to select a master developer and execute a development agreement, and the City negotiates its own development agreement. After that, construction on the housing portion is expected to begin in phases, with full buildout projected over 12 to 20 years, and 18 years identified as the most likely timeline. The Cal OES Emergency Operations Center broke ground in October 2025 on the separate 15-acre southwest parcel and is proceeding on its own schedule, unaffected by the housing approval.

July 23, 2026 Community Townhall, Norma Hertzog Community Center
July 27, 2026 Planning Commission Study Session
August 10, 2026 Planning Commission votes 4-2 to forward Specific Plan to City Council
September 15, 2026 City Council votes unanimously to adopt Specific Plan, EIR, and General Plan Amendment; caps project at 2,300 units and spares golf course
TBD State selects master developer (no application submitted as of the Sept 15 vote)
TBD Development agreements executed (State-Developer and City-Developer)
TBD Phase 1 construction begins on housing
12 to 20 years Projected full buildout (18 years most likely per financial analysis)

Looking for a Home in Costa Mesa?

The Fairview redevelopment will reshape one of Costa Mesa's largest undeveloped areas over the next two decades. If you are buying, selling, or investing in the Costa Mesa area, understanding what is coming to this neighborhood matters for long-term values and rental demand. We track new development projects across Orange County and can give you a current picture of what is in the pipeline.

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