IRVINE : Road Extension Plan Stirs Opposition

The people of University Hills are accustomed to the seclusion of living amid the largely undeveloped hills at the southern edge of UC Irvine.

In hope of preserving the area, they are mobilizing to fight a plan that could send thousands of cars a day through their neighborhood, where UCI employees walk to work and residents hike through the acres of shrub-covered hills that surround the community.

The residents are concerned about the proposed construction of several new roads. The roads would not be completed for nearly a decade, but neighborhood leaders are intent on fighting the plan in its early stages before any final decisions are made.

University Hills is on UCI property between Berkeley Avenue and Bonita Canyon Drive--just over the hill from the San Joaquin Hills tollway.

The Transportation Corridor Agency wants to eventually extend Newport Coast Drive from the tollway to Bonita Canyon Drive. Irvine officials have expressed interest in a plan that would have Newport Coast Drive connect with the proposed extension of Gabrielino Drive, a main street through University Hills.

Residents fear that a Newport Coast-Gabrielino connection would flood University Hills with commuters searching for a shortcut between the South County and central Irvine.

“This is really inappropriate,” said Jim Danziger, a University Hills resident and UCI professor of political science. “We want to keep our neighborhood peaceful and quiet.”

Earlier this month, Danziger and other area residents asked the City Council to further study how the Newport Coast extension would affect University Hills before making a final decision on the plan.

Danziger also wants the city to give further consideration to aligning the Newport Coast extension onto Culver Drive and away from University Hills.

Turtle Rock residents have long opposed a Newport Coast-Culver connection, fearing it would dump extra traffic into their neighborhood. City officials don’t like the idea either.

Councilwoman Paula Werner said that one way to satisfy both University Hills and Turtle Rock residents is to scrap plans to extend Gabrielino Drive so that the road does not connect with Newport Coast Drive.

Under this plan, University Park would not receive direct traffic from Newport Coast Drive and Turtle Rock residents would not have to deal with the extra traffic spilling onto Culver Drive, Werner said.

“To me, this seems like the smart thing to do,” Werner said. “I think they can alleviate much of the problem by simply not building this road.”

Danziger said Werner’s idea has merit. He said residents plan to lobby against the Gabrielino extension when UC Irvine officials take up the issue at a later date.

An environmental impact report on the Newport Coast extension is being prepared and should come before the council this fall, said Arya Rohani, Irvine’s manager of transportation services.

University Hills consists of both large homes and apartments nestled near the border of Irvine and Newport Beach. The roughly 650 residences house UCI professors, administrators and graduate students.

Several new housing tracts are planned for the area, but the new developments would still leave many acres of hilly open space.

UCI employees receive a subsidy from the university if they buy homes in the area, making the community more affordable than Turtle Rock. In exchange for the subsidy, residents agree to abide by strict resale rules, Danziger said.