Irvine : Civic Center Panel Gets Homeowner Members

Confronted by dozens of angry residents, the City Council added homeowners’ representatives to a special panel that had recommended building a new civic center at Quail Hill.

Residents, many of whom oppose a new civic center on the undeveloped land, said at a council meeting Tuesday that they were not informed of the plans. After nearly two hours of public comments, the council voted to add a representative from each homeowners’ group to the Civic Center Task Force.

With its new members, the task force will re-examine the proposal to use Quail Hill as a site for the proposed $30-million center. The panel is scheduled to return with its recommendations in late February.

The task force, which includes council members Sally Anne Miller and David Baker and representatives of the city and the Irvine Co., had recommended the Quail Hill site because the civic center would be centrally located and visible from many directions, among other reasons. The 50-acre parcel is bordered on the north by the San Diego Freeway and on the west by University Drive.

Leading the opposition against the site was Councilman Larry Agran, who called the parcel “a truly natural landmark.”

Agran, who lives about two miles from Quail Hill, asked the council to abandon the site and designate the area permanently as open, agricultural space.

His motion died for lack of a second.