Irvine Co. Plan for East Orange Draws Crowd

A meeting to consider approval of a 1,746-home development at the eastern edge of Orange stretched late into the evening Thursday as planning commissioners and residents quizzed Irvine Co. officials about the controversial project.

About 100 people packed the meeting room as Irvine Co. representatives asked planning commissioners to approve the developer’s environmental plan as well as proposed zoning amendments. If approved, the plan would go to the City Council for final review.

Company representatives said the zoning amendments were necessary because of numerous changes in the construction plan, which was conceived more than 10 years ago. Irvine Co. executive Dan Young said the project has been scaled back considerably and that the developer has dropped plans for an office and retail center on the site.

The changes were greeted warmly by project critics, particularly members of the East Orange Neighborhood Committee, who announced that they now support the project. The group has sharply criticized the plan in the past.

“After long talks with the Irvine Co., we’ve reached a compromise,” said Allen Burns, a group spokesman. “We are willing to give our support to the project as proposed.”

The development would occupy 494 acres at the base of the Santa Ana Mountains. Known as Santiago Hills Phase II, it is part of a much larger plan to develop 7,110 acres of unincorporated Orange County. The project site is roughly bounded by Jamboree Road, Irvine Regional Park and the Eastern toll road.

Some residents have complained that the development is out of character with the semirural area and would adversely affect the environment. Some of that opposition has abated in recent weeks as the Irvine Co. has offered changes. Among those was bowing to the city’s request to reduce the height of a proposed three-story housing complex and to relocate other buildings that would overshadow the regional park.

Two federal agencies and some residents say there are serious environmental issues remaining. They say that the development could irreparably harm crucial habitat for birds and butterflies nearing extinction, and dump polluted runoff into creeks that flow into the ocean off Newport Beach. They say that environmental impact reports prepared for the project fail to examine those matters fully and that the reports should be redone or updated.