A Good Plan for Growth

The Orange County Board of Supervisors is scheduled to vote today on a development agreement with the Irvine Co. involving 9,432 acres of coastal land between Corona del Mar and Laguna Beach. The plan deserves unanimous approval, but from the standpoint of the climate of public opinion, the agreement could not have come up for a vote at a worse time.

The community is locked in a robust debate on the future of growth and on developer agreements. Emotions, understandably, are running high. At today’s public hearing there is certain to be some opposition to the construction plans for the prime acreage that is one of the most scenic and valuable undeveloped parcels of coastal land left in Southern California.

What must not be overlooked, however, is that the battle on the development plan has already been fought and the public has won. That land war is over. And discussion on the development agreement is not something that just came up in reaction to the proposed slow-growth initiative on the June ballot for Orange County.

The plan before the supervisors today was unanimously approved in 1987 by the county board and the state coastal commission. Drafting a development agreement was proposed seven years ago and has been part of the plan since. And the Irvine Coast project as it stands today is far different from the one first proposed 24 years ago.

The original plan submitted to the county in 1964 called for as many as 21,500 homes in the area. It has changed three times since then. The current plan has only 2,600 homes. Today’s version also calls for more open land, and the developer has abandoned plans for the office space sought in the original proposal. It also requires the developer to provide a child-care facility, a library, fire station and sheriff’s substation.

The current plan carries the endorsement of the Friends of the Irvine Coast, a group of residents concerned about the environment who banded together to challenge the original development plan and help bring about changes.

The new plan that finally satisfied the county, the coastal commission, residents and the property owner is a model for balancing public and private interests, and for including the community in land planning decisions. But it won’t work without the development agreement. The agreement will serve everyone by giving the developer’s plan the legal protection needed to make possible the public dedication of 7,234 acres of irreplaceable open space and the construction of nearly $70 million in road improvements. Included in the road projects is the start of construction this summer on a four-lane Pelican Hill Road that will carry traffic around Corona del Mar by connecting Pacific Coast Highway to MacArthur Boulevard.

The Irvine coast plan has been through 24 years of public hearings, court challenges, revisions and compromises. It is fair to the public and property owner. The board should approve the development agreement needed to make it a reality.