Remote Surveillance Trailer in Brea, CA

Brea residents living near the 57 freeway and Imperial Highway could see almost 180 new homes get built on nearly 10 acres of office land by their neighborhood.

City planning commissioners are expected to consider a plan Tuesday to demolish an office park adjacent to to make way for the new housing units as cities across California grapple with ways to address the ongoing housing crisis and meet state housing mandates.

At the Feb. 25 planning commission meeting, commissioners introduced the project to the public, while raising concerns about the amount of allocated parking spaces and a lack of affordable housing units in the proposal.

“I like everything about this project except the parking, I think this is problematic,” said Planning Commissioner Tom Donini.

According to the presentation by Carlson Strategic Land Solutions, the current proposal is 51 parking spaces short of meeting current zoning requirements and does not currently have any designated affordable housing units.

Donini continued, pointing out that only one bus line runs along nearby Associated Road, while there are no longer any public transportation options available that run along Imperial Highway.

Furthermore, Planning Commission Chair Melanie Schlotterbeck questioned the amount of affordable units planned for the Greenbriar development.

According to the proposal, one option put forward by Lennar Homes of California, Inc. would have the affordable units instead be built at the developer’s nearby project – Mercury Lane Residential, which sits at the southeast corner of Berry Street and Mercury Lane.

“So the 11 original units with the Mercury project that we approved a couple years ago, that stays with that project. This project is adding within its own development agreement additional units above and beyond, is that a summary?” Schlotterbeck said.

A Lennar Homes representative told Schlotterbeck that’s the current plan.

The property for the new proposed homes, dubbed the Greenbriar Residential Development, is located on 1698-1700 Greenbriar Lane and was formerly owned by Mercury Insurance before being purchased by Brea native Dwight Manley for $31.5 Million last October.

Should the project ultimately be approved by city council members, the construction is expected to begin in April 2026. Beginning with the demolition of a nearly 165,000 square-foot office building, as well as a parking structure.

In total, 9.7 acres of land would have to be cleared.

The final environmental impact report regarding the proposed development is expected to be completed prior to the March 11 public hearing date, although a draft report is currently available for residents to view.

In that drafted report, Air Quality, Cultural and Paleontological Resources, Greenhouse Gas Emissions, as well as Hazards and Hazardous Materials have been identified as potential issues that would need to be addressed.

Aside from being bordered by residential neighborhoods to the north as well as to the east and Brea Plaza to the south, the Greenbriar development is also next to Greenbriar Park and Fullerton Creek which runs parallel to Associated Road.

In addition to the proposed Greenbriar development, another project just a short walk south is also currently under review that would be in the Brea Plaza along Imperial Highway.

The Brea Plaza apartments project proposes to construct a four-story building with 110 units on top of a parking structure with just 88 parking spaces on the northwest corner of the Brea Plaza.

The move to construct more housing comes as cities throughout California and Orange County struggle with meeting housing construction goals mandated by the State of California.

Brea officials say they are on track to meet state housing mandates sometimes referred to as Regional Housing Needs Allocation (RHNA) numbers .

“The City of Brea has planned for its RHNA and is trending positively with unit production within the 6th Cycle,” stated City Planner Rebecca Pennington and Assistant City Manager Jason Killebrew in an email to the Voice of OC.

Brea’s 2021-29 Housing Element forecasted that the city would have to build 2,365 units to meet its housing goals set by the state of California.

Cities throughout Orange County, from Fullerton to Buena Park and Huntington Beach are facing steep challenges to meet the housing development goals.

Per the state mandated timeline set for 2029, Fullerton and Huntington Beach are required to construct more than 13,000 new units, while Buena Park has to construct more than 9,000 new units per state mandates.

Huntington Beach notably tried fighting back against the state mandates, suing the state though ultimately failing after an appeals state ruled that they did not have the power to do so.

The statewide battle of addressing housing needs also coincides with similar struggles against combatting homelessness, two issues which some say feed off of each other.