IRVINE : Developer, Critics Discuss Westpark II

Top officials from the Irvine Co. and members of the slow-growth Irvine Tomorrow group met this week to discuss their disagreements over the developer’s plan to build 3,800 Westpark II homes east of Tustin Marine Corps Helicopter Air Station.

Although the groups reached no agreement, both sides agreed to meet again April 14.

The discussions appear to be “a step forward” in resolving differences, said City Councilman Bill Vardoulis, who added, “This is encouraging.”

Vardoulis brought the groups together after Irvine Tomorrow gathered enough signatures to force the City Council either to overturn its December approval of Westpark II or place the project on the ballot for voters to decide.

Vardoulis has said he hopes that the developer and Irvine Tomorrow members can agree on a way to build houses and apartments in Irvine without each new project facing a referendum. The city is reviewing requests from the Irvine Co. to build two more large subdivisions in addition to Westpark II.

The two sides disagree over requirements for low-income housing and for protecting the future residents of Westpark II against potentially harmful electromagnetic radiation from two high-tension wires running along Harvard Avenue, the western border of the proposed subdivision.

The City Council required the developer to make 25% of the Westpark II homes affordable to low-income residents. But much of that 25% is contingent on the Irvine Co. receiving government financing to subsidize the homes.

The city’s requirement is too lenient to guarantee that enough low-income homes will be built, Irvine Tomorrow member Mary Ann Gaido said. Gaido, a former councilwoman and Planning Commission member, said the 25% should be mandatory.

C. Keith Greer, president of the Irvine Co.’s home-building division, said the developer is not opposed to subsidizing low-income apartments by raising housing prices but that a 25% mandatory low-income requirement would increase the price of the homes too much to make them sellable.

“The amount of subsidy cannot be borne by the project,” Greer said Thursday. “It’s just not there.”

Christopher B. Mears, chairman of Irvine Tomorrow, asked Greer how much profit the Irvine Co. would make, even if required to make 25% of the homes affordable to low-income residents.

The company’s profit estimates are confidential, Greer replied. Mears said if he knew the numbers, he might agree that a 25% requirement is too stiff.

The meeting’s other topic, electromagnetic fields, was also unresolved. More information is needed on the effects of radiation and possible shielding of the wires and homes, Vardoulis said.