The Irvine Company says it plans to add what it calls the city’s largest nature park as part of its proposal to transform the Oak Creek Golf Club into Irvine’s newest master-planned community.
However, a new citizen-led initiative to preserve open space wants to spike the company’s redevelopment plans.
Irvine Co. officials unveiled plans to add a 50-acre nature park at its privately owned Oak Creek Golf Club, linking and completing the Jeffrey Open Space Trail and providing park-and-trail connectivity across the entire city from Limestone Canyon Nature Preserve to Quail Hill Nature Preserve.
Company representatives say they are seeking community feedback on the features of the nature park, including trails, creeks, meadows and woodlands, a potential education and community events center, and new bridges spanning rail lines and major roads.
“Irvine has been master planned since its founding, with a focus on providing abundant open spaces, parks and trails,” said Jeff Davis, senior vice president at Irvine Co., in a statement. “This planned nature park will significantly expand Irvine’s nationally ranked park system, with additional recreation opportunities in the center of Irvine.”
The park proposal will anchor Oak Park Village, the company’s broader redevelopment plan for the golf course, which would establish a new master-planned community covering roughly 216 acres at the northeastern end of the Irvine Spectrum District.
While the area has been approved for 5,000 homes, the Irvine Co. originally planned 3,100 residential units—a mix of apartments and single-family homes, an elementary school, parks and improvements to transportation and infrastructure in the area.
The number of residential units is expected to decrease significantly with the proposed addition of the nature park, which would butt up against the Southern California Edison easement along Jeffrey Road and be sandwiched in between Walnut Avenue and Irvine Center Drive.
Company officials are seeking the city’s approval for the park by the summer of 2026, with work starting early in 2027.
Preserving Open Space
The proposal has triggered renewed debate over the protection of open space in Irvine.
Over the years, Irvine Co. has donated more than 57,500 acres of land from the historic Irvine Ranch for parks, open space and permanent preservation to public entities, including the City of Irvine, Orange County, the State of California and others. This represents approximately 60% of the original 93,000-acre Irvine Ranch.
Irvine officials see the proposed Oak Park Village as a way for the city to meet its state-mandated housing goals of developing 58,000 more housing units by the year 2045.
The city has identified the Spectrum District, where the Oak Park Golf Club is located, as an ideal location to meet those goals due to its proximity to jobs, transportation and other amenities.
However, the Committee to Protect All Irvine Open Space filed paperwork on Jan. 15 for a citizen initiative to reaffirm the so-called Initiative 88-1, a voter-approved 1988 measure that requires citywide voter approval before residential development can occur on land designated as permanent open space.
Rolf Parkes, vice chair of the committee, told the Business Journal that part of the 216-acre Oak Park Village project is areas the city has long considered “open-space.” Two former Irvine mayors, Christina Shea and Sally Anne Sheridan, are part of the committee.
“The public has a right to vote whenever open preserved space is going to be developed,” said Parkes.
Parkes said he is in favor of the nature park, which he believes is better suited for the area. However, building homes would increase traffic and congestion in the area.
He said that once the city clerk prepares an official title and summary, they will begin gathering signatures.
He said they plan to collect signatures from over 19,000 registered Irvine voters to qualify it for the November ballot.
City officials have not yet taken a position on the proposed initiative.
Parkes said there are greater ramifications if the city council approves the redevelopment of the golf course. It can jeopardize the future of open space in the city.
“If they can build there, they can build everywhere—all open spaces,” he said.
An Irvine Co. spokesman pointed out that Oak Creek is privately owned and it cannot develop other open space areas because the company transferred ownership to the city when they were preserved.
