Irvine will swap land with Great Park housing developer FivePoint, an agreement that promises the area another neighborhood.
As part of the deal that the City Council first considered in February, the city will give Heritage Fields El Toro, an entity managed by FivePoint, 26.4 acres of land within the Great Park to be the site of 1,300 market-rate units.
In exchange, the city is getting 35 acres directly northwest of the Irvine Transportation Center, typically referred to as the “Crescent Site.” City officials envision using the property as a “trails and transit-oriented development” to connect the Great Park, the Irvine train station and other popular nearby areas such as the Irvine Spectrum, which are all less than a mile and a half from each other.
Heritage Fields will also contribute $15 million — $5 million of which is being funded by community development fees paid by homeowners living in the Great Park — to development on the northern end of the Great Park.
The final agreement councilmembers recently approved includes a series of provisions for the use of 26 acres. And, the council waived some affordable housing requirements for the developer — 195 units that would otherwise be required among the 1,300 new, market-rate units.
The council also approved for the developer to build 400 homes near the 125-acre site at the northern end of the Great Park where the city plans a botanical garden and central library. The city’s agreement with Heritage Fields previously allowed for up to 250 homes.
In order to green-light provisions of the agreement reached, the council voted through a general plan amendment, zone change and a density bonus housing agreement.
The council was split on how to allocate the $15 million that will come to the city. Mayor Larry Agran has long tried to garner support for a veterans cemetery at the park. But that idea of a columbarium for burial urns received lukewarm support from his colleagues and residents who spoke at the recent council meeting.
Councilmembers entertained the funding going toward the park’s planned central library, which the council has struggled to find funding for.
The land trade narrowly passed with a 4-3 vote on Dec. 9; the council also removed a columbarium from the park’s framework of plans. Agran and Councilmembers Betty Martinez Franco and Mike Carroll were opposed.
Having the 26.4 acres developed as housing is expected to lead to more money for the city than if it were to remain a commercial property. That housing, according to city estimates, is “expected to generate $200 million in new funding for public facilities.”
At least $100 million is planned to go toward construction in the Great Park. The rest will fund school expansions, road improvements and other public facilities, city officials said.
