Land near Laguna will be public’s forever

Jenifer Ragland

NEWPORT BEACH -- The Irvine Co. is designating as permanent open space a

60-acre chunk of coastal land that could have otherwise housed a dozen

luxury homes, officials announced Wednesday.

The land, estimated to be worth $30 million, is just north of the city of

Laguna Beach and next to roughly 1,500 acres of land the company donated

last summer to expand the Laguna Coast Wilderness Park. It will become

part of a 7,700-acre open-space system the company is creating as part of

its Newport Coast development.

Irvine Co. spokesman Rich Elbaum said the move stemmed from some public

opposition to the Laguna Beach County Water District’s building of a

5-million-gallon underground water reservoir -- the first phase of any

housing development on the site.

Nearby homeowners and Laguna Beach city leaders brought their concerns to

the water district officials, who then began discussions with the Irvine

Co. about a possible land donation.

“It was decided that the best thing for this parcel would be to donate it

so the public can use it forever,” Elbaum said. “It’s a unique site, and

one of few areas in the wilderness park that would have a whitewater view

of the ocean.”

The parcel is at the southernmost edge of the company’s property line,

which extends north into Newport Beach and ends on the east bluff of

Upper Newport Bay.

An open-space conservation easement for the property will be given to the

Trust for Public land, a national nonprofit group, to ensure it stays

undeveloped permanently.

Elbaum said the underground reservoir is still needed for existing

residential developments and for better fire protection in the Laguna

Beach hills.

However, part of the land donation deal includes a reimbursement of about

$2 million from the water district to the development company for money

it spent to build a service road and some costs for the reservoir itself,

Elbaum said.

The company already had approval from the county to build the small

housing development, although indications are the developer would have

run into fierce opposition from the existing neighbors when it came time

to build.