Major OC developer can skip affordable housing requirements after Irvine land swap approval

Irvine city leaders approved a land swap with property developer FivePoint in a 4-3 vote Tuesday, greenlighting the development of 1,300 market-rate units that won’t have to comply with affordable housing requirements.

As part of the deal, the city will give FivePoint 26.4 acres of land within Great Park in exchange for 35 acres bordering the Irvine Spectrum, dubbed the Crescent site.

 The development of 1,300 market-rate housing units, said Stephanie Frady, director of community development at the city, will generate more than $200 million in special taxes Great Park residents pay to fund school expansions and public infrastructure development.

The Crescent site “ creates an exciting opportunity for transit-oriented development and an important linkage between the Great Park and the greater Spectrum area,” said Pete Carmichael, assistant city manager.

The Irvine Spectrum attracts 17 million visitors each year, while Great Park sees around six million, with many more expected as the park builds out.

Because of the unequal acreage in the land swap, city officials also voted to waive state affordable housing requirements for the developer. The staff report for Tuesday’s meeting did not include a financial analysis of the land swap or the effects of waiving affordable housing requirements for FivePoint. LAist has requested those documents. But during the meeting, Carmichael said the 8.6 incremental acres are valued at around $66 million and that the deal benefits the city  by about $37 million.

Elizabeth Hansburg, co-founder of People for Housing OC, called the land swap an opportunity for the city to have greater say in the kind of development bordering a transit center.

 ”When the city becomes the owner of the land adjacent to the transit center, then the city will be held to a higher percentage of affordable [housing] than a private entity would be,” she said.

Housing close to a transit center, Hansburg said, opens up “the region of where you can go for jobs.”

“For households that are low income and maybe aren't a two-car family, or maybe there isn't a car for every driver, having proximity to transit does increase your mobility in terms of areas where you're able to go to work,” she said.

$15 million toward a public library

In the land swap, FivePoint also will give the city $15 million. During Tuesday’s meeting, Mayor Larry Agran pushed for the city to consider using that money toward a final resting place for veterans.

But residents spoke out overwhelmingly against the idea during the public comment portion of the meeting, calling for the money instead to go toward a library.

In the end, Councilmember Melinda Liu introduced a motion to approve the land swap and to  prohibit expenditure of any portion of the $15 million on the design or development of a columbarium for cremated remains. That motion passed 4-3.