Irvine : Open-Space Project Nearing Acceptance

A City Council public hearing was the latest step toward adopting an open-space plan that would set aside more than 9,500 acres for parks, recreation and wildlife.

The open-space concept was endorsed in last June’s election by Irvine voters; the project is near final approval by the city, probably next month.

“Tonight, we are just a few small steps away from making good on our promises to the voters of Irvine,” Councilman Cameron Cosgrove, who has supervised the plan from its infancy, said during the council’s Tuesday night session. “This will be the single most important planning commitment that the city will ever undertake.”

This plan would assure the preservation and conservation of open space areas through a phased dedication and development program. The program is designed to preserve environmental areas once designated for development.

Some of the areas designated to remain open space include a 4,900-acre tract in the foothills near the village of Northwood, about 2,400 acres of Bommer Canyon and parts of an open area known as Quail Hill west of the San Diego Freeway and north of its junction with the Santa Ana Freeway.