Once-Pristine Irvine Coast to Blend Resort Development and Parkland

Past the jumble of beach bungalows and upscale shops of Corona del Mar, the black ribbon of Pacific Coast Highway verges southeast into a panoramic vista of rolling hills that dip toward pristine beaches, where tall grasses bend to ocean breezes.

It is the Irvine coast, crown jewel of the old Irvine Ranch and one of the last undeveloped coastline stretches in Southern California, the subject of pitched battles between developers and environmentalists for more than two decades.

Now, an army of yellow bulldozers, earthmovers and water trucks can be seen traversing the hills inland from the highway, cutting a path for Pelican Hill Road, a major highway that will link the coast with inland Irvine and open the way for development of a Mediterranean-style resort community, complete with two golf courses, 2,600 mostly hilltop homes and as many as four hotels.

One might think the outcry of environmentalists was brushed aside for the ambitious development. Instead, 1 1/2 years ago, a coalition of local environmental groups approved the Irvine Co.’s revised plan for the 9,400-acre expanse between the glitz of Newport Beach and artsy Laguna Beach. The reason: The compromise will keep three-fourths of the area as public open space, including nearly all of the land on the coast side of the highway, except for an enclave of 55 custom seaside homes to be called Cameo del Mar.

Still, the development rankles some local residents who would prefer that the area remain untouched.

“I think it stinks,” said Marilyn Walter, 41, a physical therapist from Huntington Beach who on a recent morning had stopped at a small food stand perched on an ocean bluff, not far from the lumbering trucks and earth scrapers. “We may lose all the nice little things that give a pleasant break to our stressful way of life.”

Walter, who visits the bluffs three or four times a week just to relax, said she misses the cattle that until a few months ago had grazed the hillsides. The animals were removed because they were considered incompatible with the road construction and the development of wilderness parks, according to project officials.

Other foes of the development have left behind a silent testimonial: A sign on Pacific Coast Highway describing the county road project has been repeatedly spattered with red and white paint by some anonymous protester.

Elizabeth Brown, a biologist and president of Laguna Greenbelt Inc., an environmental group fighting to retain open space, contends that Pelican Hill Road, in particular, will be “a killer” because it will be crossed by coyotes and deer that have been provided no other way to get to nearby canyons. She advocates bridges to straddle the canyons to minimize interference with wildlife.

But Irvine Co. officials, who are providing technical support to the county on the $40-million road project, contend that Pelican Hill Road is being carefully sculpted to do minimal environmental damage, in consultation with archeologists, botanists and paleontologists. And for more than a year, they noted, archeologists have had the opportunity to dig up anything of historical value, ahead of construction crews.

Irvine Co. officials also contend that from an environmental standpoint, their project will be far superior to coastal development going on to the south in Laguna Niguel and Dana Point, because theirs is concentrated almost entirely on the inland side of the highway.

Environmentalists who struck the deal with the Irvine Co. in October, 1987, generally agree that the best deal possible was obtained. In return for dropping a lawsuit, the coalition of eight environmental groups led by Friends of the Irvine Coast won added open space, speeded-up dedication of public parklands, lower construction heights, elimination of office buildings and a promise to put hotels farther inland from Pacific Coast Highway.

“I don’t think this massive an attempt to save contiguous open space has ever happened in so urbanized and pricey an area,” said Terry Watt, an urban planner with Shute Mihaly & Weinberger, an environmental and land-use law firm that represents Friends of the Irvine Coast and the coalition.

Now that construction is under way, Fern Pirkle, president of Friends of the Irvine Coast, said some of her members have called her to say that the bulldozing is “awful.”

But although she understands their point of view, Pirkle said, she believes that “we have done what we can within the law to maximize the amount of land that is going to be dedicated to the public as open space.

“What one has to keep in mind is what it would have been like if the original plans had gone through. . . . This will always be an area of the coast that will be open, and people will have a good idea of what our coastline was like for thousands of years.”

Still, vigilance is necessary, Pirkle said. She promised that her group will watch closely over the next 10 to 15 years of development to ensure that the plan approved by the environmental coalition is followed.

“The natural feeling is to kick back and relax,” Pirkle said. “But anybody who knows anything about these things knows we have just begun.”