IRVINE : Large Homes OKd for University Park

Council members this week approved a zoning change to allow construction of 16 large homes in the city’s oldest community, despite objections by some residents that the development will be out of character with the neighborhood.

Since the founding of the University Park neighborhood in 1972, residents have been assured that a 3.3-acre lot at University Drive and Yale Avenue would be a church site. The property was sold by Irvine Co. in 1974 to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints with a deed restriction prohibiting other uses of the property for 25 years, said Irvine Co. attorney John E. Pope.

But council members agreed that the Mormon Church had tried in good faith to sell the land to another religious institution without success. Mormon officials say the property is too small for them to build on the site. The church is selling the land to Standard Pacific of Orange County, and Irvine Co. has agreed to waive the deed restriction.

After assurances by members of two neighboring homeowner associations that a majority of residents are in favor of the development, council members unanimously approved the zoning change from institutional to residential.

Council members praised Standard Pacific for making a number of compromises on the project after a series of meetings with homeowners.

But a group of residents who live near the proposed development say the massive two-story homes will dwarf the community’s single-story residences.