May 16, 2002

City-Irvine Co. Pact is Indeed Historic
The Irvine Co. on Tuesday signed over to the city pristine Bommer
Canyon as the first phase of the open space agreement approved
by voters in 1988.

Picture this: Larry Agran hugging Irvine Co. executives.

Well, it happened Tuesday night right after Mayor Agran, who for years held the company at arm's length, accepted on behalf of the city 2,100 acres of pristine wild lands from the company, Irvine's major landowner.

The brief ceremony at Tuesday's City Council meeting was historic, we're told, because it marked the first installment of the city's eventual take-over of thousands of acres of undeveloped Irvine Co. land to be preserved as open space.

In return, the company received entitlement to build homes in other parts of the city and in greater densities. The unprecedented deal was hammered out over a couple of years by city and Irvine Co. officials and approved, as the Open Space Agreement, by Irvine voters in 1988. As the agreement comes to fruition, it is indeed historic.

A third of Irvine, more than 13,000 acres and more than any other city in the county, is designated to be kept in open space, much of that as a result of the 1988 agreement. Leaving 13,000 acres untouched may be the crowning achievement for the Irvine Co. and the people of Irvine, who, for nearly 40 years have been shaping a community unmatched.

"The land you are receiving tonight ... is magnificent. We know you're going to cherish it, just as the Irvine Company has done for more than 100 years," said Joe Davis, president of the company's Irvine Development Co., who signed over to the city Bommer Canyon and part of Shady Canyon.

"It's a marvelous achievement which we ought to savor now. But in 20 years, when the county is built out, people will marvel at how we were able to save thousands of acres of open space forever," said Mayor Agran.

"In wilderness is the preservation of the world," said Thoreau.