Irvine Cool to Optional Laurel Plan : Development: City officials accuse the Irvine Co. of trying to foist a controversial housing project from Laguna Canyon into their jurisdiction.

City officials on Tuesday criticized an Irvine Co. proposal to “dump” the Laguna Laurel housing project on their city, signaling trouble for environmentalists who saw the offer as an opportunity to prevent development in picturesque Laguna Canyon.

“The Irvine Co. has taken a lot of heat for a project that is very unpopular and basically they’re saying, “Well, if you have a better idea, fine; otherwise, forget it,’ ” City Councilman Cameron Cosgrove said. “As far as I’m concerned, I don’t think it is advantageous to the city of Irvine to have that project in our city whatsoever and I think it’s going to be a very simple rejection.”

Officials made their comments as they prepared to meet with Laguna Beach officials. No decision was expected at the meeting late Tuesday.

The cities of Laguna Beach and Irvine are scheduled to discuss the latest twist in a decade-long battle between the Irvine Co. and area environmentalists who oppose the 3,200-home, planned residential community proposed for Laguna Canyon.

In a surprise move two weeks ago, the Irvine Co. announced for the first time in the festering 10-year dispute that it would consider moving the project from Laguna Canyon to neighboring Irvine if officials would agree upon a stringent set of conditions, including keeping the current dimensions of the project.

To some observers, the Irvine Co. offer represented a chance to salvage the mix of slopes and lush greenery that distinguishes Laguna Canyon. But to others, including some Irvine city officials, the move was a ploy to foist the unpopular project on their city.

“The overriding factor is that Laguna Laurel has no constituency outside the Irvine Co. Everyone regards it as a bad project that regretfully has not gone away,” Irvine Mayor Larry Agran said. “There’s a lot of open space here, but there is not interest in taking a bad project out of Laguna Canyon and dumping it on valuable open space that we have won after 10 years of hard work.”

About 16,000 acres of open space surround the city of Irvine, including Bommer and Shady canyons on the southern edge of the community, which bounds Laguna Canyon. However, using any of the land already designated as open space would require majority approval from the City Council and a referendum, Agran said.

Agran said Irvine might support a scaled-down version of the project, if officials can secure state or federal funds to purchase the Irvine Co. property for open space. A possibility, he said, would be to substitute a retreat and lodging facility for the housing units, “consistent with the natural beauty of the area and a much less intensive kind of development.”

Earlier this week, Sen. Alan Cranston (D-Calif) emerged on the scene saying he would tour the canyon Friday with Laguna Beach and Irvine Co. officials to get a firsthand look at the project area. Cranston aides said the senator anticipated a request from local officials for federal park monies to preserve the canyon.

The current project calls for 3,200 housing units, a golf course, a school and a shopping center, along with public parks and preserved terrain.

“I don’t think anyone would seriously think we would entertain their proposal,” Agran said. “I would hope that we could engage in a more realistic discussion that involves the Irvine Co. and the county and simply treat this recent communication as having opened the door to discussions.”