Irvine and RVs,doesn’t exactly have a natural ring.
Southern California Edison Co.’s plan to turn a dirt patch in Irvine into a storage area for recreational vehicles and boats has drawn the ire of some Irvine office property owners.
They say the proposed recreational vehicle storage area next to their office park would be an eyesore, depress property values and even foster crime if security is lacking.
“What it will do is take away from the business environment that we have here,” said Clare Einsmann, executive vice president with United Agribusiness League, an agricultural trade association whose headquarters is next to Edison’s land.
The property being considered for the RV park isn’t pristine. It’s four acres of a 26-acre stretch of dirt along the San Diego Creek Channel between Barranca Parkway and the San Diego (I-405) Freeway.
The energy provider wants a permit to allow vehicle storage on the land and it could ask for a zone change as well, according to David Law, a senior planner with Irvine.
Irvine officials are waiting on more details from Edison before making any decisions, Law said. Its application would have to go before the Planning Commission and would require a public hearing, he said.
Edison spokeswoman Kim Scherer noted that the company has six or seven other RV sites in Orange County, including one in Irvine.
She said cities are particular about where an RV site is palatable.
“They want it in commercial areas,” Scherer said. “They don’t want it in residential.”
The site already is an eyesore with chain link fence bordering the property and trash common, Scherer said. The RV storage area would have electronic security, possibly including cameras, she said.
United Agribusiness owns its building at the Corporate Park complex. Einsmann and other property owners and tenants at Corporate Park are gearing up to fight the plan when Irvine holds public hearings on the project. So far none is scheduled.
Corporate Park is just off Barranca Parkway, near the former Tustin Marine base.
Mitch Goldstone, president of 30 Minute Photos Etc. at 92 Corporate Park, said he would challenge the project at a public hearing. Goldstone has been there since 1990.
He said Edison’s plan would make sense in a more industrial area.
Goldstone said he’s confident the city ultimately will reject Edison’s plans. Other owners said a lawsuit would be considered, if necessary.
Area property owners probably wouldn’t have complained back in the 1970s when land east of John Wayne Airport was an industrial hub.
Some industrial users, such as Royalty Carpet Mills Inc., still do their manufacturing, warehousing and distribution there.
But today the Irvine Business Complex is more well-known for its glass-and-steel office towers, luxury apartments and, lately, high-rise condominiums.
Last year Mike Derderian, owner of Royalty Carpet, objected to an apartment project proposed for land next to his factory on Kelvin Avenue. He feared complaints by future residents.
Perhaps the most high-profile tenant at 60 Corporate Park is Arthur Danielian, who heads architectural firm Danielian Associates Architecture & Planning. Danielian is an investor in the office building.
Danielian sent a strongly worded letter about Edison’s plans to other property owners during summer.
“We at Danielian Associates are very concerned about the negative impacts that the proposed RV storage so close to our buildings would have on our businesses, our property values, etc.,” he wrote.
Land owned by Edison along its power line routes often is used for car washes, warehouses and truck parking, according to the company’s Web site.
At other sites, the company also is considering car-related services, shops and restaurants.
