The City Council moved forward with Irvine’s long-term housing plan on Tuesday by clearing the way for additional residential developments in a neighborhood near John Wayne Airport.
In a 4-1 vote, the City Council supported zoning for up to 15,000 higher-density residential units in the Irvine Business Complex, northeast of the airport. To make the change official, the council must confirm its vote at an upcoming meeting.
The Irvine Business Complex is one of three “focus areas” where the city is planning for higher-density residential units to accommodate its rapid growth and to meet a state housing mandate that requires Irvine to zone for more than 23,000 new residential units in its long-range vision for development over the next 20 to 25 years.
The other focus areas are around the Great Park and the Irvine Spectrum.
Councilmember Larry Agran was the lone naysayer in Tuesday’s vote. In August, Agran also was the only councilmember to reject the city’s broader housing plan.
This particular aspect of the plan required additional review because the council needed to take a separate vote to overrule an Airport Land Use Commission plan for land around John Wayne Airport. The ALUC, as it is known, found that Irvine’s proposed housing plan was inconsistent because of noise, safety and “general concerns of land use incompatibility.”
Earlier this year, the city of Newport Beach similarly overruled the ALUC to move forward with planned projects to build apartments and condominiums with some affordable housing units on Quail and Bristol streets.
An Irvine city staff report said Santa Ana and Costa Mesa officials have also recently overruled the airport commission’s findings of inconsistencies regarding zoning proposals near John Wayne Airport.
The commission exists per state law to review land use proposals near civilian and military airports and other land use issues that might affect airport operations.
The commission says it strives to protect the public from the adverse effects of aircraft noise and to ensure that people and facilities are not concentrated in areas susceptible to aircraft incidents. The seven-member body consists of two commissioners appointed by the OC Board of Supervisors, two appointed by the League of California Cities, two appointed by the public airports (John Wayne and Fullerton Municipal) and one member appointed by other commissioners to represent the general public. Irvine Councilmember Mike Carroll is on the board.
Irvine councilmembers overruled the ALUC and approved the first reading of the zoning change Tuesday without deliberation. In August, when they last voted on the plan for three high-density residential focus areas, Councilmember Tammy Kim said Irvine had a “moral obligation” to approve that vision.
“This is about smart sustainable planning that not only safeguards and protects our quality of life as Irvine residents,” she said at that time, “but it addresses the affordable housing needs that we so desperately need.”
Related Articles
Rowland Heights housing project gets county approval to move forward
Newsom declares Norwalk in violation of state housing requirements; It’s ‘bullying,’ councilmember says
Yorba Linda voters to decide Measure JJ with new plans for allowing more housing
Measure S: Cypress asks voters to approve plans that would allow for more homes at race course
Related Bristol project in Santa Ana near South Coast Plaza gets council approval
