Irvine OKs 6,000 homes in city's urban core

from that report:  Many streets within the IBC do not have sidewalks and on-street parking is not permitted in a majority of the complex. The large scale of the blocks and width of the streets have restricted pedestrian connectivity. As a result, accessibility and pedestrian movement is very difficult.
 
I love the cross-outs  (sorry, didn't come through.  only the first two are not crossed out of the report):

A number of factors have created an impetus for the IBC to transition to an urban, mixed-use center. These factors include:
? A desire for housing in closer proximity to local jobs.
? An emphasis on a newer lifestyle geared more towards urban living rather than traditional suburban living.
? strong residential market demand combined with a lack of available land in the region for new housing;
?An existing stock of aging, low density tilt-up industrial buildings; and
? A key location at the confluence of several freeways and regional circulation systems.
In response, new residential development has been ?inserted? piecemeal into an existing industrial community with no overall master plan guidance. A resulting ?island mentality? has developed with gated and/or inward focused residential complexes with little or no relationship to surrounding streets and buildings.
 
The report makes lots of good points, but do people who are attracted to OC / Irvine want something like that?  I feel like most people here are typical suburbanites - they want their own car, garage, and yard (assuming they can afford it) in a nice, clean, safe neighborhood.  And as long as the grocery store, bank, etc. are within a 5 minute drive things are good.  Maybe they'll drive to LA or the beach once a month, but aside from that they don't really need anything urban nor walkable, especially now that gas prices are steady around $3.

Hell, the walk score where I live in Tustin Ranch is 95, a "walker's paradise", and still here you rarely see people on the sidewalks except for the occasional jogger / dog walker.
 
I do think there are two sides to Irvine... the suburban 2.5 kids family that are worried about their neighborhood API scores and the young, "rich and single"* urbanite either in college, fresh out of college, in a master's program or even some DINKs who would rather own/rent somewhere that has a local scene not requiring them to drive everywhere. Isn't that why The Village over by the Irvine Spectrum is popular and they had to expand it?

Look at Diamond Jamboree... who would have thought an Asian shopping center smack in the middle of industrial buildings would become so popular?

*I kid about "rich and single", that's the whole Money Magazine twist.
 
I think there is some sense in either the Council, TIC or Bren that every great city needs a vibrant downtown area... just not sure they understand what else comes with that.
 
Time will tell, but I agree with Blueberry.  The reason people have come to love / hate Irvine is because it is a meticulously planned, clean, safe, boring, epitome of a suburban city.
 
Boring? There's 4 Targets, 3 Costcos, 2 Home Depots and 2 Lowes (and 2 99 Ranches for you FCBs) all within minutes of each other!
 
Oh see... now I have to go to H-Mart and pick up a jar of those Crunky Chocolate Balls.... curse you jumpcut and your Korean indulgences!
 
Blueberry East loves the 92618 said:
Will this work and be successful? Maybe. 20 years is a long time.

But another question is: Why do it?

Love or hate Irvine, they know how to create and brand suburbs. Wouldn't urban Irvine destroy that brand? I doubt it's going to be the safest city with urban living. They should spin it off and call it Urvine.

Is it about growth just for growth's sake?
Click to expand...

The report sounds great but the concept implementation will be very expensive. LOL, I can only imagine what the Mello-Roos will be.

As for the why--Irvine has no choice:

http://irvinehomes.ocregister.com/2009/10/16/irvine-loses-appeal-over-affordable-housing-mandate/8927/

They need to build 35K homes by 2014--of which 21K must be affordable. The Great Park project will help but so would a higher density project like the Irvine Business Core.
 
iacrenter said:
The report sounds great but the concept implementation will be very expensive. LOL, I can only imagine what the Mello-Roos will be.

As for the why--Irvine has no choice:

http://irvinehomes.ocregister.com/2009/10/16/irvine-loses-appeal-over-affordable-housing-mandate/8927/

They need to build 35K homes by 2014--of which 21K must be affordable. The Great Park project will help but so would a higher density project like the Irvine Business Core.
Click to expand...

Exactly, they can build a ton of low income section 8 apartments in the IBC to quickly satisfy the requirements and quickly turn Irvine into the next Santa Ana ghetto as all the illegal immigrants will migrate here.
 
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