The potential buyer of the Rancho San Joaquin golf course has proposed to build an 800-unit housing development on 25 acres on the golf course at the corner of Harvard and University. But what does 25 acres look like? And how much open space on the golf course will be taken up by this proposed development? We took a satellite image of the golf course on Google Maps and used a common mapmaker tool that measures acreage drawn on the map, and here's what we came up with (view larger image): You be the judge. But in our opinion, this would be a massive development in an existing community. Add to that 3,200 residents or students to the mix and you have a massive increase in traffic and congestion in addition to what Irvine residents and commuters are already experiencing along Culver, Harvard, Michelson and University.
Not only would this type of proposed development require a drastic change to the City's General Plan, it would require a major zoning change to Irvine's Planning Area 19, which encompasses the golf course. This type of massive high-density development is totally incongruent to the existing Irvine villages of Rancho San Joaquin, University Town Center and University Park, and hopefully our Irvine City Council and our Planning Commission agrees. Take action and write to our City officials and let them know that development on the RSJ golf course should not happen and they should not even consider changing the General Plan and zoning for Planning Area 19.
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An Irvine resident hung a banner near the Rancho San Joaquin golf course. Looks like momentum is building from our Irvine residents who want to protect the RSJ golf course as an open space amenity!
The potential buyer of the Rancho San Joaquin golf course has proposed to build a multi-story, 800-unit, high density student housing complex on 25 acres of the golf course property. But what might this look like? At 800 units on 25 acres, we estimate that that's about 30 units per acre. Thus, based on this building density we looked around our local area to see if we could find a development that's close to what's being proposed for the golf course property. And we came across an apartment complex that's 4 stories and is about the same density, 30 units per acre. Take a look and see what you think: ,Keep in mind that the level of detail, finish and exterior landscaping shown in the photos are probably at a higher level than one might find for something like a lower-cost development like student housing.
Aside from taking away our valued open space, a development like this will be totally incongruent to the “village” designs of Rancho San Joaquin, University Town Center, and University Park. And having 3200 additional residents will increase traffic on our already clogged streets, especially on Culver, Harvard, Michelson and University. As they say, a picture is worth a thousand words as these four photos, unfortunately, prove. |
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Coalition To Protect Rancho San Joaquin Golf Course • P.O. Box 5475, Irvine, CA 92616 protectrsjgolfcourse@gmail.com • Tel 949-237-2807 Copyright © 2024 Coalition To Protect Rancho San Joaquin Golf Course. All rights reserved. |