IRVINE : Council to Review Plan for Apartments

Affordable housing may be in short supply, but some city officials are wary of a proposed 88-unit apartment complex that nearby residents say would be too large for the four-acre lot it would occupy.

The City Council will review the project, which was proposed by the nonprofit Bridge Housing Corp. of San Francisco, on Sept. 12.

The Planning Commission rejected the project’s parking plan, and the group is expected to ask the council to overturn that decision, senior planner Jill Griffiths said this week.

At an Aug. 3 meeting, the Planning Commission blocked the project by vetoing a proposal to put guest parking for the apartment complex on an adjacent street.

The proposed development would include nine two-story buildings at Santa Clara and Santa Alicia streets.

Councilman Greg Smith said he has met with nearby residents in the city’s Westpark II community. “They see this as a lot of units on very little acreage,” he said. “The fact that you can’t meet the parking requirements without using the street speaks to the need to review this proposal very closely.”

Planning Commission Chairman Ken Bruner, who voted in favor of the project, said he was satisfied with the developer’s offer to change boundary lines to accommodate parking within the project.

He also addressed some nearby homeowners’ concerns that the apartments would be for low-income residents--those earning no more than $30,000 a year.

“We’re talking about beginning teachers, beginning police officers, health-care workers and college students working part time,” Bruner said. “That includes an awful lot of people I’d like to live next door to. I’m afraid the idea of affordable housing gets misinterpreted.”