East Orange Project to Jam Traffic, Foes Fear : Development: Opponents urge City Council members to insist that roads be improved before the Irvine Co. is allowed to start work on massive plan.

About 100 people turned out for a City Council hearing Tuesday night, expressing fears that the Irvine Co.’s plan for a massive housing development on the eastern fringe of the city would worsen traffic in the area.

“I don’t like this plan,” said Bob Bennyhoff, a slow-growth proponent. “It could mean a half-million more cars a day to our transportation problems in Orange County.”

Bennyhoff and others wanted assurances that city officials will demand that highway improvement projects, including the widening of Santiago Canyon Road and the extension of Jamboree Road, will be completed before any construction begins.

“You should not allow any dirt to be moved until all those roads, as stated in the plan, are built,” urged Mary Beth Lynch, an Orange resident. “You should act now rather than in hindsight. That’s all we have in Southern California is people acting in hindsight. Orange County deserves better.”

Irvine Co. officials gave a 25-minute slide presentation about the East Orange project to the City Council. This was followed by testimony from residents.

Orange county environmental officials also raised concerns about transportation. By way of a letter to city officials, county Environmental Management Agency Director Ernie Schneider said that in addition to widening Santiago Canyon Road, the Irvine Co. should improve arterial streets, such as Newport Boulevard. Schneider also questioned the Irvine Co.’s plans to place two residential areas near the proposed Limestone Canyon Regional Park.

Serrano Irrigation District spokesman Joel D. Kuperberg told the council that the East Orange project, which includes the Santiago Reservoir, could threaten the reservoir, which serves 10,000 Villa Park residents.

“We vigorously oppose the approval of the plan because of our concern about water quality and our fear that the water will be poisoned by future construction,” Kuperberg said.

In response, Brad Olson, president of the Foothill Community Builders, a division of the Irvine Co., said the developers are interested in discussing the concerns of the water district.

“We had no attempt to hide anything, but this is the first time that the water district has brought this up,” Olson told the council.

The issue of affordable housing within the project was raised by Robert Jensen, chancellor of the Rancho Santiago Community College District. The district’s Orange campus is in the development area. Jensen said the development should provide housing for residents of all income levels.

“One of my concerns is turnover in our district because of Orange County’s high housing costs and beginning salaries for teachers,” he said.

The Planning Commission approved the project last month, and the City Council is to vote on the development Dec. 5.

The development will require an amendment to Orange’s General Plan, the city’s blueprint for residential and commercial construction. The amendment calls for development over the next 15 to 20 years of 7,110 acres of Irvine Co. property. The proposed community would add 34,000 people to the city’s population, roughly equivalent to the present population of Brea or San Clemente.

More than 12,300 housing units would be built, along with a recreation center, golf course and civic center. Two major commercial centers are expected to create 27,000 jobs.

The city’s current population is about 106,400. Mayor Don E. Smith said that as a result of this proposal and other growth, he expects the city’s population to grow by nearly 50%.

“We’ve been working on this plan for more than three years,” Smith said before the hearing. “There’ll be months more to go of the approval process, if this General Plan gets approved.”

The 11-square-mile area, running along each side of Rancho Santiago Boulevard and including Irvine Lake, would include four activity centers, containing businesses and community services surrounded by residential neighborhoods.

The project is the largest single planned community ever attempted by the Irvine Co., which owns about one-sixth of the land in Orange County.

Plans call for four or five development phases, with areas being annexed as they are built. Construction could begin in about two years.

“The important thing is that we have been planning this by working hand in hand with the city,” said Dawn McCormick, an Irvine Co. spokeswoman. “What we had in mind was creating a balance of housing and jobs and that there be adequate roadways,” she said.

As to early complaints by residents who preferred less density, McCormick said the company “had to strike a balance with new jobs, and enough people to support the proposed shopping centers.”

Opposition to this proposal comes on the heels of a massive protest against another Irvine Co. development, Laguna Laurel in pristine Laguna Canyon. On Nov. 11, more than 7,000 people marched in protest, staging an eleventh-hour attempt to block the project and to preserve the wild area as a huge “greenbelt,” or open-space area.

In Orange, environmentalists have already signed an agreement with the Irvine Co. supporting the planned community.

Peter Bloom, a Sea and Sage Audubon Society official, has testified before the Planning Commission in support of the project. Bloom told the commission the society made its decision to support the amendment after being included in the planning process by the Irvine Co. Also, Bloom said the company agreed to relocate two housing tracts away from the southeast corner of the development and preserve 200 acres of wild oak groves near the proposed Limestone Canyon Regional Park.

The Planning Commission voted 4 to 0 to recommend that the City Council approve the East Orange General Plan on Oct. 31. Commissioner Randy Bosch abstained.

However, before approving the project, the commission recommended several stipulations:

* Increasing the minimum lot size to 6,000 square feet, and the minimum driveway length to 20 feet.

* Setting a timetable for expanding Jamboree Road, one of the area’s main thoroughfares, to four lanes as far as the Riverside Freeway.

* Providing a certain amount of affordable housing.

Once a General Plan amendment is approved, Mayor Smith said, the Irvine Co. intends to submit a specific plan proposal that would separate the East Orange project into four distinct developments.

“We’ll be holding many more hearings on these plans, and those who oppose it will have their chance to be heard,” Smith said.