Irvine residents could see some more open space and hiking trails in a new 700-acre nature preserve in the northern end of the city.
It comes after Irvine City Council members moved forward with a new plan to open up the nature preserve and build over 1,200 new homes near the site of a controversial old asphalt factory.
The city is paying $285 million to shut down and purchase the old All American Asphalt plant, which released fumes near residents of the Orchard Hills neighborhood for years despite complaints from homeowners.
[Read: Something’s In the Air: Irvine Residents’ Yearslong Battle For Breathable Air]
On Tuesday night, city staff noted that escrow hadn’t yet wrapped up on the sale of the former factory, but that it was set to be finished in the next couple months and that the factory had ceased operating in November.
[Read: Irvine Asphalt Factory Closes Today After Years of Complaints]
To finance the purchase, city officials are selling off around 70 acres to developer Brookfield Residential, who will build 1,237 homes and pay the city at least $600 million for the land.
About a quarter of those are set to be restricted for residents making around 80% of the city’s median income, which according to the US Census would fall just shy of $100,000 a year.
The land from the All American Asphalt factory and the surrounding 700 acres, most of which was donated to the city by the Irvine Company, will then be turned into a plot of land called the Gateway Preserve.
The land will be managed by the Irvine Ranch Conservancy, with plans to create up to 12 miles of new trails in the area and possible ideas for a Visitor Center.
City Council members unanimously praised the new project, saying it was a great solution to a long-time thorn in the city’s reputation.
“This was an extraordinary piece of work by our city staff,” said Councilman Larry Agran during Tuesday’s meeting. “It took a lot of people, a lot of good thinking, some tough negotiating to work this all out.”
The only one to bring up reservations about the project from the dais was Councilwoman Tammy Kim, who said while she supported the project, the way they purchased the land made it almost impossible to add in more affordable homes.
“We needed to get some money out and now it’s time, the time has come where we need to settle those debts,” Kim said. “We are here, I will support this, but when people talk about more housing, more expensive housing, more high end housing, this is the reason why.”
No representatives from the factory spoke at last night’s meeting, and the company agreed to a $1.25 million settlement last year in a class action lawsuit brought by some of the residents without admitting any wrongdoing.
Noah Biesiada is a Voice of OC reporter and corps member with Report for America, a GroundTruth initiative. Contact him at nbiesiada@voiceofoc.org or on Twitter @NBiesiada.
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