covers Orange County and its 34 cities, watching those long meetings — boards, councils and more — so you don’t have to.
covers Orange County and its 34 cities, watching those long meetings — boards, councils and more — so you don’t have to.covers Orange County and its 34 cities, watching those long meetings — boards, councils and more — so you don’t have to.
With our free press under threat and federal funding for public media gone, your support matters more than ever. Help keep the LAist newsroom strong,The Irvine City Council on Tuesday is set to vote on a land swap deal that will waive affordable housing requirements for one of the biggest developers in Orange County. If the council approves the land swap with FivePoint, the city will give 26.4 acres of land in exchange for 35 acres dubbed the Crescent site. The city will then greenlight FivePoint’s development of 1,300 market rate housing in an area where the median price for a home is around $1.5 million. The staff report for Tuesday’s meeting does not include land appraisals or a financial analysis of the land swap and the financial impact of waiving affordable housing requirements for FivePoint within the Great Park. LAist has requested those documents from the city and will update the story if we hear back. However, in a staff report, officials say Irvine can use the land in the deal to build more affordable housing than would otherwise be built in the commercial market.Heritage Fields El Toro, part of the FivePoint umbrella, owns the land adjacent to the Irvine Transportation Center, a transit station that falls in the Amtrak Pacific Surfliner route, as well as Metrolink train and Orange County Transportation Authority bus routes. That 35-acre area is dubbed the “Crescent Site.” City officials want that land to build a “transit oriented development” connecting the Great Park and Irvine Spectrum areas.A state law extended mortgage forbearance for up to a year, but survivors say there’s far more to do.'The Snake,' a 2.4-mile stretch of Mulholland Drive, is known for its hairpin turns and the legions of motorists looking to tame it.According to the city, “The area is particularly well suited for higher-density residential and mixed-use formats, sidewalk-activated retail and creative commercial spaces, walkable urban blocks, and a lifestyle environment attractive to young professionals and knowledge-sector employees.” Irvine has not included plans on how they will achieve state affordable housing requirements in the staff report.California’s Housing Element Law sets housing targets for local governments to meet, including for affordable units. It allows the state to intervene every eight years to let cities know how much housing they must plan for. The law also requires cities to put together a housing element showcasing how they will achieve the state’s plan. The state then approves of the element or sends it back to cities to reconfigure according to the requirements. In the land swap, FivePoint will also give the city $15 million to use toward the construction of a columbarium for cremated remains, a new public library and other amenities on a 125-acre plot of land within Great Park — a project that may go to voters in 2026. For years, plans to build a final resting place for veterans in Irvine has stalled due to debates over politics, a property developer, site options and ballot measures. Fed-up veterans finally took their plans to Anaheim’s Gypsum Canyon, where they received the backing of the state. Irvine Mayor Larry Agran tried to revive talks ofOne of the best things you can do to hold officials accountable is pay attention. Your city council, board of supervisors, school board and more all hold public meetings that anybody can attend. These are times you can talk to your elected officials directly and hear about the policies they’re voting on that affect your community. The next scheduled Great Park board meeting is 4 p.m. Tuesday, Dec. 9. You can find meeting agendas and upcoming datesIf you're enjoying this article, you'll love our daily newsletter, The LA Report. Each weekday, catch up on the 5 most pressing stories to start your morning in 3 minutes or less.At LAist, we focus on what matters to our community: clear, fair, and transparent reporting that helps you make decisions with confidence and keeps powerful institutions accountable.With federal funding for public media gone, LAist faces a $1.7 million yearly shortfall. Speaking frankly, how much reader support we receive now will determine the strength of this reliable source of local information now and for years to come. This work is only possible with community support. Every investigation, service guide, and story is made possible by people like you who believe that local news is a public good and that everyone deserves access to trustworthy local information.With more individuals like you supporting this public service, we can continue to provide essential coverage for Southern Californians that you can’t find anywhere else.Megan Garvey
Land Swap City Council Affordable Housing
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