Irvine News Blog | Court slaps Irvine for approving 2400 Barranca project

Irvine, Calif. (August 30, 2021) – Orange County Superior Court Judge Kirk H. Nakamura strikes down approval of 600,000 people in town of Irvine over business owner victory long time in the Irvine Shopping Complex (“IBC”). I did it. A square foot office complex proposed by Gemdale USA in Pasadena which ordered the creation of a new environmental impact report for the project.

The owner of the IBC for Wise Development company sued the city in August 2020, arguing that Irvine should not have approved the project under the old IBC Vision Plan Program EIR (“Program EIR”). 11 years old. .. This was a project of this size on a plot and instead required a site specific EIR for the project. By using the EIR program, Gemdale and the city avoid informing neighbors of the proposed project and do not fully assess the traffic, greenhouse gases and other environmental impacts of the project. Impossible to consider alternative projects with little.

This is the second time that the city of Irvine has been informed by the court that it cannot rely on the EIR program for projects not envisaged in the document. In 2008, Justice Stephen J. Sunvold of the Orange County Superior Court ruled that the city should not have used the pre-1992 RIA program to approve the IBC’s 82-unit condominium project. The proceedings were filed by Allergan Pharmaceuticals and the towns of Newport Beach and Tustin.

Ed Connor, Managing Partner of Irvine, said: Connor, Fletcher & Hedenkamp LLP Law Firm. “We look forward to working with the city as a new in-depth EIR process is implemented, so we hope to mitigate the serious impact of Gemdale’s proposal and make it a reasonable project alternative. You can analyze possible mitigation measures. “

Peter Swartz of IBC Business Owners for Sensible Development, which owns a building adjacent to Balanca’s 2400 site, said: He was left out of the process. I am grateful to Judge Nakamura for agreeing with us and giving us a legitimate opportunity to talk about what will be built at 2400 Barranka. “

As proposed, Gemdale’s 2400 Balanka project will consist of two office towers totaling 275,000 square feet and a 7-level, 1,044-space multi-storey car park with new construction totaling approximately 600,000 square feet. This is an increase of almost 1000% compared to the existing one. -structure of the story currently on the site. In this project, the EIR program will generate 3,787 new daily vehicle movements from a site that has only been affected by 758 movements per day.

Related