Irvine Open-Space Position Lauded

UCI graduate student Rick Reiken (“Wildlife Area Extends Far Beyond Sign in ‘Wild’ Irvine,” Commentary, Aug. 5) laments the disappearance of wilderness lands in Irvine, apparently unaware of all that the city and its citizens have done to protect and preserve its open space.

In November, 1991, 78% of the voters in Irvine approved the city’s historic Open Space Agreement, which creates a process for conveying the ownership of 8,832 acres of private land to the people of Irvine. That’s an area 2 1/2 times the size of the city of Laguna Beach. It will be preserved as open space forever, and at no cost to city taxpayers. The land will be transferred to public ownership in conjunction with the phased development of the city under its Master Plan.

As for his statement about the pace of residential growth, it has been reduced to a trickle in Irvine, due mainly to the recession. In fact, during 1991, the city issued only 205 building permits for new residential construction--a far cry from historic averages when more than 1,700 units were built annually in the city under its Master Plan.

LARRY THOMAS, Senior Vice President, Communications and Public Affairs, The Irvine Co.