Fields of Battle

To many residents and local environmentalists, Quail Hill is something of a field of dreams, a bucolic sliver they have twice voted to preserve.

To the owners of neighboring Strawberry Farms Golf Club, including former Angels star Doug DeCinces, a slice of the hill parcel is key to expansion plans.

The dispute is growing as the City Council considers putting the fate of the hill on a citywide ballot--for the third time since 1988.

“A deal should be a deal,” said Fred Schwartz, a 15-year Irvine resident who drives by the hill daily on his way to work. “Now, they are asking us to either change the deal or vote on it again. I’m appalled.”

George Gallagher, president of the Irvine Conservancy, a political action committee formed to protect open space, calls the hill a monument to community preservation efforts.

“When you drive by Quail Hill, you look at it and say, ‘Well, at least Quail Hill won’t be bulldozed,’ ” he said.

DeCinces, a former third baseman for the Angels and the Baltimore Orioles, said the proposed golf course addition would be a “win-win proposition for the city of Irvine.”

“My goal right now is to continue meeting with environmental groups and residents, and hopefully, we can come to an agreement, or agree to disagree,” he said. “I don’t want to be viewed as a developer who is insensitive.”

The expansion of the popular course--where a round of play costs $85 weekdays and $125 on weekends--would add four to five holes on a small part of the preserve area.

The plan would require changing the zoning designation of 84 acres, technically owned by the Irvine Co., from open space to recreation. The change to the city’s general plan would require approval from voters.

Efforts to preserve Quail Hill, surrounded by University Park and Turtle Rock and home to grazing cattle and thriving wildflowers, date from the late 1980s.

Laura Turner, a 23-year resident of University Park, said she thought when residents voted overwhelmingly in favor of listing the land as a preserve in the general plan, it was a done deal--especially after residents went back and sealed the matter by approving it for a second time a couple of years later with an advisory vote.

Turner recalled standing in front of an Irvine supermarket about 10 years ago, collecting signatures on a petition seeking the open space preserve.

“At one point, they told us we didn’t have enough signatures and would have to get more,” Turner said. “I went back and got more darned signatures.”

Residents, primarily from University Park and Turtle Rock, recently donned homemade pins reading “Save Quail Hill” as they urged the City Council to reject the expansion.

After a long debate, the council postponed a decision on whether to hold a special election on the issue. The election would cost an estimated $75,000, city officials said.

Mayor Christina L. Shea said she is reluctant to put the issue on the ballot without more information, adding that she wanted to know what’s in it for the city.

The issue will be back before the council in May, at which time the council has requested a formal proposal from the golf course.

DeCinces said he welcomes giving residents the opportunity to decide what they want to happen with the land.

“This is the democratic process that is set up,” he said. “It’s not an issue that was voted on, and never to be brought up again.”

Residents disagree.

“What everyone seems to be forgetting is that this open space agreement was supposed to be in perpetuity,” Gallagher said. “That means forever. So, why are we considering this proposal at all? There are certain things in life that shouldn’t be negotiable.”

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

NEIGHBORHOODS / Quail Hill

Bounded by: University Drive to the north and Ridgeline Drive to the west

Population: About 17,500 in surrounding neighborhoods

Hot topic: Possible expansion of a golf course that could encroach on land designated as an open space preserve