IRVINE : School Stadium Plans Now Out of the Picture

Call it truth in advertising. School board members have voted to remove drawings of a stadium from architectural plans for a new high school in north Irvine after acknowledging the facility likely would not be built.

School board member Tom Burnham said it was misleading to show the 5,000-seat, $1.2-million stadium on plans for the new $51-million high school because the Irvine Unified School District cannot afford to build it.

“Every real estate agent in town has those site plans laid out and would come to the conclusion that the school district plans to build a major stadium there,” Burnham said Wednesday. “This keeps it a little more honest with the public.”

But school board members agreed that when the district’s fourth high school opens in the fall of 1997, there will be a need for an additional stadium. High school athletes currently play home games at Irvine Stadium, next to Irvine High School.

Because the planned high school is relatively near Irvine Stadium, board members agreed at Tuesday’s meeting that a new stadium should be closer to University and Woodbridge high schools in the southern part of the city. The district will explore the possibility of joining with the city or nearby colleges to finance construction of a new stadium.

Board member Margie Wakeham is urging a comprehensive review of programs and facilities at all Irvine schools because of dwindling state school-building funds. “What we need to do is take a look at what we need districtwide,” Wakeham said. “Not every school site is going to (offer) every opportunity.”