Irvine Co. Trims Project Plans for East Orange

Faced with mounting opposition to its proposed development in East Orange, the Irvine Co. announced Thursday that it would trim portions of the controversial project and eliminate a shopping center.

The developer will also provide up to $17.8 million in loans for construction of a school. The loan will be repaid by new homeowners.

Most notably, the developer offered to eliminate a 25-acre commercial center at the Santiago Hills Phase II site. The total project would also shrink slightly from 1,881 units to between 1,596 and 1,746 units.

“These are some pretty significant changes we’ve proposed, and they come as a result of our discussions with the city and the community,” said Irvine Co. spokesman Rich Elbaum.

The company’s announcement follows strong criticism from opponents, who claim the 518-acre development at the base of the Santa Ana Mountains is out of character with the area’s semi-rural nature.

On Thursday, reaction was mixed.

One of the project’s strongest critics said she was pleased. “We didn’t get everything we wanted, but it’s a thousand percent better,” said Shirley Grindle, organizer of the East Orange Neighborhood Committee.

She said she was pleased to see the commercial center removed. Critics feared that the center at the intersection of Jamboree Road and Chapman Avenue would have contributed to traffic congestion. Irvine Co. officials say the changes will reduce traffic impact by 15%.

Others said questions about the project’s environmental impact have not been addressed. They contend the project would irreparably harm crucial habitat for birds and butterflies nearing extinction and dump polluted runoff into creeks that flow into the ocean off already troubled Newport Beach.

“They’ve got to demonstrate a whole lot more before they convince me,” said Theresa Sears of the environmental group Friends of Harbors, Beaches and Parks.

The development would occupy a triangular plot of land west of the Eastern Toll Road and east of Jamboree Road and sandwiched between Peters Canyon and Irvine regional parks. In other proposed changes, the developer said it would try to avoid demolishing almost half of a stand of oak trees near Irvine Regional Park. The trees stand in the way of a new road planned for the development.

Many of the changes were made at the request of Stanton Soo-Hoo, Orange’s community development manager, who complained that there were too many apartment units, that a three-story housing development was one story too tall and that a proposed 20-acre community park consisted mostly of wetland.

In a letter addressed to Soo-Hoo on Tuesday, Irvine Co. Vice President Gary H. Luque wrote that the number of apartments had been reduced from 520 to 380 and that buildings had been limited to two stories. Instead of building a community park, the Irvine Co. would pay the city up to $3 million in recreation fees, according to the letter.

Grindle and other critics have also taken aim at the environmental impact reports submitted for the project. They contend that much of the information is out of date and inaccurate. They said they will challenge the report in court unless it is corrected.

Grindle said Thursday that her group would not concede this issue. “That’s still on the table, and they’re going to have to take care of that. Otherwise we’re going to have a fight on our hands.”

In addition to environmental concerns, some critics have worried that the new development would overburden the city’s school system with new students. On Thursday, Irvine Co. officials said they would offer the Orange Unified School District Board of Education $17.8 million in financing for the construction of a new elementary school at the Santiago Hills site.

Company officials said that under state law they would be required to contribute $7 million to city schools because of the development’s projected impact on the district. Instead of collecting those funds however, school officials have agreed to the $17.8 million loan, which would be repaid through the creation of a special tax district within the new development.

“Basically, this method allows the district to have more of a school and sooner,” Elbaum said.

The deal with school officials would, under certain conditions, also provide for the creation of temporary classrooms at Santiago Charter Middle School and El Modena High School, which could also receive new students from the development.

Judith Frutig, a spokeswoman for the Orange Unified School District, said officials sought provisions for building a new school because they worried that the Irvine Co.’s projections for new students were low.

“We’re not absolutely confident that the statistics are going to come out like they say, so we wanted a buffer,” Frutig said. “We’re comfortable with this agreement.”

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Irvine Trims Project

The Irvine Co. is offering to shave its controversial East Orange development from 1,881 units to between 1,596 and 1.746.

Source: BonTerra Consulting