IRVINE : Council Rebukes Member for Action

City Council members chastised fellow Councilwoman Paula Werner this week for calling a press conference over her concerns about the city’s 1988 open space agreement.

As part of that agreement, the Irvine Co. will give up 961 acres in Limestone Canyon for use as a county regional park once the city approves most of the building permits in the company’s proposed Northwood 5 residential development.

Werner told reporters last week that she only recently found out that she had voted June 11 on a resolution designating the county as the recipient of those 961 acres. The resolution had been added to a portion of the City Council agenda reserved for routine matters all approved with one vote.

Werner said she never saw the item and was embarrassed to have voted on it unknowingly.

During the press conference, Werner said she was concerned about the process of adding an important item to a routine portion of the agenda and worried what effects the June 11 vote would have on the city’s open-space agreement, which outlines land the Irvine Co. would give to the public once the City Council approves certain development projects.

By agreeing now to turn the land over to the county once Northwood is developed, she said, the city might have lost its say over how the future park land will be used.

Council members William A. (Art) Bloomer, Barry J. Hammond and Mayor Sally Anne Sheridan criticized Werner for raising her concerns publicly without warning them and other city officials so they could be prepared to answer questions from reporters.

The press conference seemed to imply City Manager Paul O. Brady Jr. tried to sneak the item by council members, Hammond said.