IRVINE : Shady Canyon Development Passes Early Test

With some opposition from residents, the City Council has given preliminary approval to an Irvine Co. housing development in one of Orange County’s most pristine wilderness areas.

The plan for the 1,000-acre Shady Canyon development won praise because it now calls for fewer homes than originally proposed. The project, which will include an 18-hole public golf course and public hiking trails, will now have as many as 400 homes on one-acre lots.

“This is an opportunity for rejoicing,” Turtle Rock resident Irwin Alber told council members Tuesday. Alber is head of the Turtle Rock Area Coordinating Council, a homeowner group.

The residential development plan includes narrow, winding streets, landscaping incorporating the area’s rock formations, and limited street lighting to preserve a rural appearance.

Although Shady Canyon is planned as a gated community, the homes will not obstruct wildlife, said Ken Coulter, vice president of land development for Irvine Community Builders, an Irvine Co. division.

“This will not be a walled-off community,” Coulter said.

The council’s action did draw protest from some residents.

An open-space agreement approved by Irvine voters as Measure C in June, 1988, requires the preservation of 5,500 acres. Some people told the council that the pact led them to believe that no development would be allowed in the rural canyon.

“The citizens of Irvine, when they voted for Measure C, did not want this area developed,” resident Harlo Lenning told council members.

Other residents urged the council to monitor closely the environmental impact of the project and said they will ask Irvine Co. to eliminate four homes planned in the “triangle” area of the canyon at the confluence of two creeks.