Irvine : Fluor Withdraws Bid for 2nd Phase of Project

Fluor Corp. has withdrawn its controversial application for the second phase of its planned multimillion-dollar development in Irvine.

The City Council will continue public discussion Monday on pending approval of Phase I of Fluor’s proposed project, which is to include a hotel, office buildings and retail complex.

At issue is a 1982 ordinance passed by the City Council that granted Fluor and seven other corporations the right to expand their companies. In return, the companies must contribute money or provide traffic improvements to the city. Fluor and its partner, Dallas-based Trammell Crow Co., contend that the law permits the development of Fluor’s 162 acres, which surround the corporation’s headquarters, into a large complex that includes a hotel and retail complex.

Fluor and Trammell Crow also plan to build major traffic improvements, including a loop at the intersection of Jamboree Road and Michelson Avenue, to ease congestion leading to the San Diego Freeway.

City officials said their concern is whether the development complies with the city’s corporate growth policies. Officials said the ordinance requires companies to expand only to meet their own business needs. It bars speculative commercial developments, officials said.

In announcing the withdrawal of its application for the second phase of its two-phase master plan, David S. Tappan, Jr., Fluor chairman and chief executive officer, said the action “was taken to eliminate any confusion regarding the entitlement issue before the City Council involving Phase I of the master plan. These entitlements, granted in 1983, permit Fluor to develop an additional 1.8 million square feet of office space.”

The first phase of construction, scheduled to begin by the end of 1985, calls for 2.1 million square feet of office space, 200,000 square feet of specialty retail stores, theaters and restaurants and two hotels with a total of 1,000 rooms.

Tappan said Phase II would have been built at a future date and only after the city determined additional office space would not adversely affect traffic and other conditions existing at the time.

City Councilman Larry Agran said Friday that the council’s staff had been working on several options to settle the issue and that the latest proposal would be presented to the council Monday night. Agran declined to say what the proposal contained.

“The council may or may not take action on the alternative proposals Monday. It may settle the issue, it’s very difficult to say. We don’t have to come up with a final decision, but the council will want to rather than have it languish week after week,” he said.

The 7:30 p.m. Monday meeting will be held in the City Council Chambers.