Neighbors See Nothing Light in UCI Plans

When the upscale homes in Turtle Rock went on the market in 1966, neighboring UC Irvine was just a year old.

The university still hadn’t changed much by the time Chuck Langlois moved in a decade later--just a few buildings and trailers surrounded by hills, fields and stables.

For decades, the campus folk and the neighborhood got along fine. But some Turtle Rock residents now complain that the university is planning student apartments that would block their views and has erected stadium lights atop 10-story-high poles around a new student recreation center that also affects their homes.

“I haven’t felt much of an impact from the university’s expansion until this with the lights,” Langlois said.

Langlois, who on clear days can see the Santa Monica Mountains and the Palos Verdes Peninsula from his house, worries his view will be lost when the lights go on.

University administrators say they have tried to be neighborly, unfurling plans for residents at community workshops and modifying designs that homeowners found obnoxious. But, they point out, the campus plan for growth within its sprawling borders has been around for nearly four decades.

UCI Expansion Was in the Works Since ’62

“There are residents who have been there for a number of years and I’m sure moved there for what was there at the time--open, rural fields,” said Liz Toomey, UCI’s director of state and local government relations. “But the campus expansion has been planned since 1962. So there’s a part of me that wonders if they’re surprised.”

Unlike campuses such as UC Santa Barbara, which surrounds the student-dominated community of Isla Vista, or the more urban setting of UC Berkeley, UCI is in a growing suburban area where noise, lights, traffic and views are big issues in neighborhoods.

The university lies between the University Park and Turtle Rock neighborhoods, where home prices range from $300,000 to more than $1 million. Longtime residents have gotten accustomed to views and open space that was always targeted for development.

For example, plans for the recreation center, which opened last year, had been on the books since the university’s birth. It is just one of several projects planned for the eastern part of the campus near Turtle Rock. As many as four student housing complexes are coming--two in the next five to seven years and two more later.

As part of its long-range development blueprint, the university also intends to add to its academic and research facilities with buildings nearer the campus center in the next 10 years to accommodate an expected surge in enrollment.

By the time UCI is complete, the once-rustic campus will have given way to a 1,500-acre school with state-of-the-art research facilities and enough on-campus housing for nearly half the student body--expected to reached 26,500 by 2005, said Richard Demerjian, director of planning.

The school was growing so quickly in the 1980s that students joked that “UCI” stood for “Under Construction Indefinitely.”

For some longtime residents, the university’s rapid maturity has been positive.

“Back then, they were touting the fact that the campus would eventually be the size of Cal Berkeley, so I was never surprised when it continued to grow,” said Marilyn Vassos, who moved with her husband, Angelo, to University Park in 1966.

If there’s a negative, she said, it’s that the community isn’t more involved in the university. Vassos, who likes to stroll around the campus and sometimes attends lectures and musical productions, is surprised by how many of her friends and neighbors have never stepped foot there.

“People don’t understand that a university is an exciting place,” Vassos said. “I can understand how the people in Turtle Rock feel, but the university has been there for so long. I wish they could make peace because there really is so much to offer there.”

Light Poles Called ‘the UC Eyesore’

Scott Hanssler, who moved to Turtle Rock last year, said he doesn’t have a problem with the university’s expansion, but does see a communication gap between the school and its neighbors. He said he was stunned when he watched the lights go up. He pored over UCI’s plans, trying to figure out if he missed something.

“I still believe they have a right to develop their property,” Hanssler said. “And I don’t have a problem with them lighting up the fields. But I do have a problem with the size of the lighting that’s there now.”

Like some of his neighbors, Hanssler thought the light poles would be no more than 20 feet high. He was surprised when the 102-foot standards were erected.

Dozens of Turtle Rock residents say they’re unhappy--with the poles they call “the UC eyesore” and the nighttime views they fear will be blocked once the lights are switched on.

They cite a 1997 environmental report that recommends light poles around the recreation center not exceed 20 feet. University officials, however, say the 20-foot lights were proposed for walkways, not playing fields.

Still, UCI planner Demerjian said the university gave much consideration to the type of lights that would be used. He said they decided on a state-of-the-art system that’s consistent with lighting used on city-owned playing fields.

“The university’s goal was to minimize light and glare, and in 1997, the concern expressed by residents was light and glare,” Demerjian said. “The impact of these lights won’t go much beyond the playing fields.”

But Turtle Rock resident Rich Luttrell said that even if the lights are on only about four hours during the evening, he and his neighbors still will have to look at huge poles during the day.

University officials say they’ve tried to keep the community abreast of their plans. They hold regular community workshops, even meeting with residents in their homes. They also remain in frequent contact with city staff, though they are not obligated to do so. The campus answers only to the University of California Board of Regents.

“The lesson is that you can’t over-communicate,” said Susan Menning, UCI’s vice chancellor of communications. Menning said UCI has begun distributing its magazine--traditionally sent only to alumni, donors and other campus insiders--to Turtle Rock residents and has established relationships with a number of area homeowners associations.

“We have been committed to being a good neighbor, particularly to our next-door neighbors,” Menning said. “But you often don’t anticipate the emotional reaction to a development. We could probably do a better job of reaching out.”