IRVINE : Hearing Tonight on Christ College Plan

The Planning Commission will hold a public hearing tonight to discuss a development plan proposed by the private Christ College Irvine that has angered some residents of the Turtle Rock community.

The 600-student, liberal arts college has submitted a proposal to turn the east and west ends of the campus into a residential tract of 354 homes. The college also wants approval to double the amount of classroom and administrative space and add 192 student residences to the 116-acre campus.

Christ College wants to sell the land on which the houses would be built to pay off a $25-million construction loan from the Lutheran Church Missouri Synod, college President D. Ray Halm said. Any remaining funds would be used to set up an endowment for student scholarships.

Repaying the loan would allow the Missouri Synod to fund other projects. The scholarships are needed to allow more students to be able to attend the college, Halm said.

The proposal has upset some of the surrounding Turtle Rock residents, who have objected to the additional traffic that they say the homes would bring to the two main streets serving the community. The residents also said they fear the loss of open space on the hilly campus.

“The roads are loaded to the gills right now,” said Ivan Bradford, a resident of Turtle Rock Vistas, a community that would be closest to the 74 single-family homes proposed for the west end of the campus.

Heavy morning traffic already requires him to spend 10 minutes just to drive from his tract onto University Drive, he said.

“Because they’re hurting for money, they want to change the General Plan and build more houses up there, and the neighbors be damned,” Bradford said. “There are a lot of people upset here in the Turtle Rock area.”

Besides selling the land to raise money, the 15-year-old college wants to expand its administration building, library, student center, classrooms and other structures to accommodate a planned future enrollment of up to 2,500 students, Halm said.

Changing the General Plan to allow for the additional homes will be the major decision facing the Planning Commission and later the City Council. The state-mandated plan outlines where and how the city is expected to grow and how to prepare for that growth. The General Plan now allows only college-oriented uses on the campus.

Tonight’s 6:30 p.m. commission hearing will focus on traffic and other environmental concerns, except for soil conditions and water runoff. Residents brought up those two issues earlier as possible problems, and the city ordered further study by environmental consultants. The study is expected to be completed next month. A public hearing on soil and runoff will then be held in January.