Irvine Orders Study of Residential Hotel Site

City planners will study whether to locate a $12-million residential hotel on city-owned parkland near the Civic Center.

The City Council this week ordered the study despite objections from some nearby residents who fear a single-room occupancy hotel will attract transients to the neighborhood.

Approval of the three-story hotel near the Barranca Parkway and Jamboree Road intersection is far from being finalized. The plan must still go through the city’s planning process.

But several council members said the location near Civic Center Park is far more desirable than the hotel’s other proposed site, near a rock-crushing plant and sanitation facility in an industrial area off Jamboree Road.

So they asked city officials to study the concept and report back to the council next month.

If Tuesday’s hearing was any indication, the hotel could face stiff opposition from residents who live in the nearby Westpark village.

“The whole idea of this kind of hotel is entirely inconsistent with the whole integrity of Westpark and Irvine,” said Jim McDonald, one of about a dozen residents who attended Tuesday’s council meeting.

McDonald and others expressed concern that it could bring homeless people and jobless transients into the area.

Hotel backers argued that the development is designed for single workers, possibly UC Irvine students and employees at local business parks and industrial sites.

The hotel, proposed by HomeAid Orange County, would have 265 rooms, each with its own bathroom and kitchenette. Rooms would rent for about $370 a month.

“I hear talk that this is going to be a . . . homeless hotel,” Mayor Michael Ward said. “That’s not the case.”

Ward and other council members hope the study will address some of the residents’ concerns. They also hope it will dispel some stereotypes and myths that surround the hotel plan.

“I don’t think there’s a real understanding out there about what this project is about,” Councilwoman Christina L. Shea said.

The council has generally supported the residential hotel concept, which officials said will offer people an affordable means of living and working in the same city. Officials said they hope it will also help reduce traffic congestion.