Supervisors OK 6 More Development Agreements

The Board of Supervisors on Wednesday approved six more development agreements, five of which complete a mechanism for financing a $235-million road improvement plan in south Orange County.

The sixth agreement, for the Irvine Co.’s Irvine Coast project, protects plans to build hotels, housing and two golf courses on the county’s largest stretch of vacant coastal land in exchange for road improvements and other contributions.

All of the agreements were approved in separate 4-1 votes with Supervisor Roger R. Stanton voicing the only dissent.

Agreements Criticized

Environmentalists, proponents of a countywide slow-growth initiative and a candidate for Congress criticized the agreements Wednesday as problem-fraught and possibly illegal, but others said they are significant steps toward solving the county’s traffic congestion problems.

“Its critical that these (agreements) be allowed the go ahead,” said south county resident Clyde Childress, who complimented the five agreements connected with the Foothill Circulation Phasing Plan and the road improvements they promise.

The agreements are the last of 11 in the plan. They call for developers to put up land as collateral to finance a network of new roads just east of Mission Viejo and El Toro. In exchange, zoning and land-use plans for residential and commercial projects cannot be changed by the county.

An already approved development agreement that is part of the plan, one covering the Hon Development Co.’s Foothill Ranch project, was amended Wednesday by supervisors to allow more than 4 million additional square feet of space to be used for businesses and light industry.

The 11 Foothill circulation plan agreements protect plans for housing units and $31.8 million square feet of commercial space. Because of such protection, developers can more easily acquire bank loans.

The Foothill circulation plan agreements require that in addition to the road building, developers must provide money for traffic signals, noise reduction programs, library, fire and sheriff’s substation facilities and child-care programs. The Foothill Ranch agreement calls for the developer to pay for park acquisitions and improvements and $250,000 for a countywide wildlife management plan.

The agreements were praised by supervisors and citizens Wednesday as an innovative partnership between government and private industry that warrants emulation.

Similar praise was showered on the Irvine Coast development agreement, under which the Irvine Co. pledges to build roads, dedicate land for public parks and other open space and finance the construction of public facilities.

In exchange, the county will protect the company’s plan to build four resort hotels, 2,600 units of housing and two golf courses on a prime stretch of coastal land between Laguna Beach and Corona del Mar.

Carol Hoffman, an Irvine Co. senior director, said the agreement’s approval culminated 24 years of planning and negotiations between the company and area residents who had objected to the project until it was scaled down.

“We’re very pleased to get this far,” Hoffman said after the board vote.