City to take on Irvine
The Tustin News
By Jeff Overley and Sonya Smith
The city will spend $100,000 to join a lawsuit with Newport Beach over fast residential growth in the John Wayne Airport area in Irvine.
In the planned lawsuit, Newport Beach and Tustin will challenge environmental studies of two enterprises, a 444-condo project called 2323 Main and the 290-apartment Avalon Bay development.
The cities are seeking a full review of traffic effects and recreation needs throughout the complex, Newport City Attorney Robin Clauson said.
Thousands of condos and apartments are in various stages of construction or approval in the 2,760-acre Irvine Industrial Business Complex. Though each project has its own study, Newport says a comprehensive review of all the projects on the table is needed.
The complex near the cities' shared border has seen explosive growth lately. Newport and Tustin officials fear that without proper planning, the influx of residents could overwhelm its streets and parks.
"It's a threat to our quality of life, and we're not going to sit on our hands," Newport Councilwoman Leslie Daigle said.
Irvine officials say individual projects are evaluated against a backdrop of other planned developments and make a distinct overall study redundant.
In August, the cities agreed to formal talks in pursuit of a compromise.
But with only one face-to-face meeting since then, little headway was made.
"We clearly have worked to ... avoid the need for a lawsuit," said Irvine Mayor Beth Krom.
"I have confidence in the work that the city of Irvine has done."
Already suing Irvine are two Irvine Business Complex companies - Deft Inc., a manufacturer of stains and polyurethanes, and Allergan, maker of Botox.
Both companies, fearing the proximity of new housing to their industrial operations could be a legal liability, are also suing over the 2323 Main project.
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