IRVINE : City Council Urged to Reject Development

Residents opposed to an affordable-housing project in their neighborhood are asking the City Council to overturn the Planning Commission’s approval earlier this month of the proposed 84-unit development. San Francisco-based Bridge Housing Corp. is planning the apartments on a four-acre lot at Santa Alicia and Santa Clara streets.

Residents say that 42% of the city’s affordable-housing projects are within half a mile of the proposed development, even though the city’s General Plan calls for subsidized housing in all areas of the city.

“They’re trying to make it look like we’re against poor people,” said a member of a nearby homeowners association who asked not to be identified. “But it’s not that we think bad people are going to move in next door to us; it’s just a matter of poor planning and what can happen because of poor planning.”

Limits on annual income for residents of the project would range from $16,000 to $34,000, with rents from $514 to $792 a month.