IRVINE : City Rejects Option to Sell Vacant Strip

A strip of vacant land between homes in the city’s Northwood community should be turned into a neighborhood greenbelt and not sold to adjoining homeowners, the City Council voted this week.

The 60-foot-wide, 1.4-mile-long stretch of an abandoned railroad line has long been planned as a bicycle trail and linear park. But last May the city began considering selling or giving the land to the 202 neighboring homeowners after residents complained that the project was taking too long, leaving what they termed a “brown belt” behind their homes.

After spending $15,000 studying the sale option, the council voted unanimously Tuesday to give up the idea rather than spend another $22,000 to prepare necessary legal documents. Continuing to study the sale option would have been too costly and time-consuming with no guarantee enough residents would agree to buy the land to make the option workable, council members said.

The council also stressed in its vote that it wants to see the city move ahead with installing park amenities within the next two years. Residents living along the proposed park have complained that the area attracts transients, vandals and beer-drinking teen-agers.

The linear park project has been on hold because of the cost. The city estimates it would need $2.4 million to install the trails, grass and security lighting.

At the council’s meeting Tuesday, some Northwood residents asked the council to continue studying the sale option, while others pressed the council to make the park a higher city priority.

“The time has come to move forward and develop the area as a linear park,” said Ann Cleland, a Northwood resident whose home abuts the former railroad right-of-way.