Slow Growth for Irvine - Preserving Irvine's Open Space

By Jack W Wu

Preserving Irvine's open space has to be a top priority, not only for our residents, but for our children.

When I saw that quote from the local newspaper, I almost fell out of my chair. Irvine has a lot of people now. Traffic is difficult, the restaurants are always crowded, and Irvine is going to get more people and homes. But I remembered another article in that same newspaper which stated that Irvine was rated the best place to raise of child, with the main reason for that being a zero population growth. With that and the excellent press about Irvines student's SAT scores being some of the best in Orange County, along with Irvine's recognition as being one of the safest cities in America, Irvine is a very appealing place to live. So the supply must keep up with the demand, and the homes will be built.

Please don't get me wrong. My wife and I recently bought our first home in Irvine because we wanted the good schools and the good life, so I am not advocating Irvine stopping its plans for more homes. What I am afraid of is the destruction of Irvine's open space in order to fill the need. Irvine has open space, you ask? In my four years as a college student at UC Irvine, I never knew Irvine had any space which was not developed, or which was planned to be developed. After all, UCI also stands for "Under Construction Indefinitely." If Irvine had any open space, it would have been "created" or manicured, not left in its natural state.

I did not realize the magnitude of Irvine's open space until I volunteered to serve on the Irvine Southern Open Space Master Plan Committee. Not only was I shown a massive amount of open space south of the 405 freeway, but we were also shown how civilization has crept in with every passing year. This was most evident at Bommer Canyon Cattle Camp, where the new toll road fills the campgrounds with light and freeway noise, and where the new homes being built on both of the surrounding ridges will have backyard views of Boy and Girl Scouts on their camping trips.

But I believe in Irvine's slow growth with measures to slow down such development, perhaps in the same vein as San Juan Capistrano's complete ban on new development, but not as extreme. If new homes have to be built, put them on land which has already been razed, like the Tustin and El Toro Marine bases. Don't put them on land which is still pristine and brimming with nature. Irvine needs to keep its open space open.