Irvine Open Space: Yes on C

In the midst of the anti-development sentiment and a growing desire of many residents to preserve the environment and Orange County’s quality of life, the Measure C that comes before Irvine city voters Tuesday is a unique and timely proposition.

The ballot measure will give the city approval to amend Irvine’s General Plan by ratifying an innovative agreement between the city and its principal property owner, the Irvine Co. The agreement, which took more than two years to complete, locks the two into a plan that calls for the land company to give the city about 5,500 acres of open space. In exchange for the land, and for limiting development in some environmentally sensitive canyon and hillside areas, the developer will be allowed more density in other residential and commercial projects, such as the Irvine Center in the “Golden Triangle” bordered by the San Diego, Santa Ana and Laguna freeways.

It is a fair agreement that benefits city residents and the Irvine Co. and should be approved by voters.

As a practical matter, there is really no other way Irvine would be able to add that much valuable acreage to its open-space land bank. If residents don’t want development, there is only so much they can do about it. Cities can zone property and determine land use, but property owners do have the right to use their land, and there are legal limits to how restrictive zoning can get.

Recent court decisions have reminded government that excessive regulation could be legally construed as a taking of the land, which would require compensation to the landowner. And most communities lack the money needed to buy the usually expensive and irreplaceable open space that residents do not want to see lost to more office buildings, fast-food restaurants and parking lots.

Measure C is a novel way for the city and the Irvine Co. to achieve their land-use goals. Some of the donated open space will be used for parks and trails. But all of it will become part of Irvine’s master plan, which will give the city more than 16,000 acres (about 30% of the city’s land area) in undeveloped land. That is more open space than in any other city in the county and what the City Council believes will be the largest municipally owned open-space system in the nation. And it can be done with no cost to the taxpayers.

The benefits of Measure C are not limited to Irvine residents. The agreement means that everyone traveling down the San Diego Freeway below Jeffrey Road will be able to look up and still see hillsides. And that the 360-acre Quail Hill will continue to be home to the thousands of Canada geese that feed and rest there for months on their annual migrations. That’s true open space, not concrete-lined flood-control channels or utility rights of way.

In Measure C, Irvine and the Irvine Co. have shown a way to set aside otherwise unattainable open space and hold it forever. We urge a yes vote to protect the land-use agreement from any possible attempt by a future council or the Irvine Co. to weaken the open-space pact that will benefit the community for generations to come.