IRVINE : Northwood Debate Scheduled Tonight

The debate over plans to build 2,885 homes next to the city’s Northwood village will leave the streets tonight and move into the City Council chambers.

The council is scheduled to hold its final public hearing on the residential plan and decide whether to give the Irvine Co. initial approval to develop the 416 acres of orange groves north of Hicks Canyon Wash.

Two resident groups have gone door to door in Northwood village, leaving behind flyers at 5,000 homes opposing and supporting the Irvine Co.’s plan.

The first group, Irvine Tomorrow, warned residents that the council was about to rubber stamp the “massive development” and asked residents to return a post card indicating whether the project should be built.

The other group, the North Irvine Village Assn., distributed its own flyer in response last weekend.

The flyer called the wording of the Irvine Tomorrow flyer “just political rhetoric.”

Irvine Tomorrow, which considers itself a slow-growth group, also opposed the Irvine Co.’s Westpark II project last year.

The group successfully petitioned to put Westpark II to a vote after the council approved the 3,850-home development last December.

The election has been scheduled for Nov. 5.

The North Irvine Village Assn., made up of 18 homeowners associations in and around Northwood, supports the Irvine Co.’s building plan.

The group has held community meetings over the last three years to suggest modifications to the Northwood 5 project, and signed an agreement with the company supporting the plan.

The association believes the current plan will benefit Northwood area residents and wants the council to approve the development, president Donald Armbruster said Monday.

“We’re expecting a reasonably large turnout from both sides,” Armbruster said of tonight’s public hearing.

During the meeting, Irvine Tomorrow will present the results of its post-card survey that shows Northwood residents oppose the plan, according to Mary Ann Gaido, a member of Irvine Tomorrow and former city councilwoman.

Of about 500 people who returned the post cards, only five said they wanted the 2,885-home project built, Gaido said, adding that the rest said they wanted to keep the orange groves.

But leaving the land undeveloped isn’t realistic, said Barbara Nash, a member of the North Irvine Village Assn. who signed the group’s door-to-door flyer.

The Irvine Co. has a right to develop its land, she said.

“None of us want growth in north Irvine,” said Nash, a real estate agent. “I would say that if (residents) had their choice, no one would want anything to come in. But the fact is, it is coming.”

Though Armbruster believes most Irvine residents would prefer growth to stop, he said the association didn’t discuss slow- or no-growth options in approving the company’s plan. Instead, he added, members focused on making the Northwood 5 plan a better one for area residents.

Gaido, however, said it is possible for the city to say no to growth.

“This is just not the right time for massive development,” Gaido said, citing problems with traffic, the drought and Irvine’s current financial crunch. The Irvine Co.’s plans will add more people to the city who will require more city services and worsen traffic, she said.

The public hearing on the Northwood 5 plan will take place during the City Council’s 6:30 p.m. session at City Hall.