Developers Want to Build ‘Suburban’ Resident Inn : Housing: It would be near Irvine waste site and rock-crushing plant, raising noise concerns.

Affordable-housing advocates are attempting to bring an age-old piece of urban life to the wide parkways and sunny man-made lakes of this decidedly suburban town.

Their plan is to build a single-resident occupancy hotel--a 1990s version of the low-cost hotels and rooming houses that for more than a century have been a part of the inner-city landscape.

Such hotels are rarely found in planned communities like Irvine, which was designed mainly for middle-class single-family living and does not even have a downtown district. Recognizing this, hotel backers acknowledge that they must persuade the public that the “Irvine Inn” will benefit rather than blight the city.

“The biggest challenge is the fear and ignorance. . . . This is new to Orange County,” said Mike Lennon, executive director of HomeAid Orange County, one of the developers. “We have to demonstrate that this will be an asset to the community.”

Although the City Council generally favors the hotel concept, some members expressed concerns about the Irvine Inn’s proposed location.

The inn would be in an industrial area off Jamboree Road near a rock-crushing plant and a waste disposal facility.

Councilwoman Christina L. Shea and others believe the site is too noisy and isolated for residential housing and lacks adequate public transportation.

Some business owners in the area also oppose the hotel, fearing the new residents will demand that work hours and noise levels be reduced.

“It’s totally inappropriate in my mind to have residents live there,” said Shea, who said she has had little luck persuading the Irvine Co. to find another location.

“The message it sends is that for people (who earn) less than 30% of the median income, it’s OK to live in a trash dump area,” Shea said. “This is just not a place to put people.”

Others, however, argue that HomeAid should be given a chance to prove that the location is a suitable home for the inn.

“I think we need this kind of housing,” Councilwoman Paula Werner said. Even if the site is not perfect, “it would still provide shelter that otherwise would not be provided.”

And Lennon and others believe they can make the case for the project.

The council has allocated about $400,000 in federal grants to the project. But before the money can be used, HomeAid must have its plans approved by the Planning Commission.

Lennon hopes to gain approval by presenting a proposal for a “suburban” hotel designed with the needs of Irvine’s working class in mind.

The rooms at the Irvine Inn will be significantly larger than those of older hotels. Each will include a kitchenette and a bathroom. Developers hope to lure people by offering most residents their own parking spaces--a luxury few residential hotels provide.

In an effort to keep the hotel safe, Lennon said an on-site manager will require that all non-residents check in before entering the hotel.

“We are designing this to benefit the residents,” Lennon said. “We want to make it livable.”

The $12-million project is being developed in conjunction with the Shawntana Development Corp. on Irvine Co. land. If the three-story, 265-unit hotel is built, furnished rooms will rent for about $370 a month.

Irvine has focused attention in recent years on creating more affordable housing. More people work in Irvine than live there, and many workers complain that they can’t afford to buy or rent a home.

Some Irvine officials see the residential hotel as a suitable home for service-industry workers from UC Irvine and various business parks and hotels around the city. By placing affordable housing closer to service jobs, they hope to reduce traffic congestion.

“I think it’s wonderful to have $1-million homes in Turtle Rock and golf courses, but where are the people who clean the houses and yards going to live?” Werner said. “I think we have a responsibility on this. Cities should provide a broad spectrum of housing types.”