Aug302014
Should the Woodbridge Village Center be blown up for condos?
The Irvine Company wishes to replace the poor-performing Woodbridge Village Center with a condominium development that makes them more money.
I recently wrote about the power of opposition groups to stop housing development in California. I was recently contacted by an activist in a community opposition group trying to save the Woodbridge Village Center.
Personally, I think the Woodbridge Village Center should be saved. If I lived in Woodbridge, I would prefer to keep this well-designed community amenity rather than see it replaced with private condos. However, if I were the Irvine Company, I would want to replace this poor-performing center with something more valuable; they’ve determined condos is the best use for the property.
If you have an opinion, you can comment here, or you can call or send an email to the person responsible at the Irvine Company.
SAVE OUR VILLAGE !!!
Big changes are in the works for the Woodbridge Village Center. The Irvine Company is presently evaluating options to replace the Village Center with either a residential development (most likely condominiums), or with a standard shopping center. Regardless of the option selected, the current Village Center will most likely be destroyed.
The Irvine Company is expected to reveal their proposal to the Woodbridge Village Association this fall. It is critical that the Irvine Company gets input from Irvine residents regarding the Village Center. Rather than destroying it, they could develop plans to transform it into a desirable pedestrian and cycling destination. New venues such as coffee houses and unique restaurants could help bring people to the Center. If you want your voice heard and would like the Village Center to be preserved, please telephone or email Jennifer Ciccone at the Irvine Company:
Jennifer Ciccone – VP of Operations, Neighborhoods and Community Centers
949-720-3138
Every telephone call or email is important to the future of the Village Center. Please inform you friends so they in turn can inform others.
Sincerely,
Friends of WVC
Search Facebook: Friends of WVC
Email: [email protected]
I’m surprised that more developers aren’t buying whole blocks of existing residential houses and razing them and building typical commercial first floor and chic condos above and underground parking. In Huntington Beach on Beach Bl there are two big apartment complexes being built. There are rumors of ANOTHER apartment complex being built right by Bella Terra. And they just finished building one apartment building.
In Anaheim off on Katella and City Drive around the Angels Stadium there is HUGE swath of land that’s breaking ground. Looks to me that its gonna be one of those trendy shop apartment condo deals.
Right next to my house there was a little farm area. For years and years guy grew corn, strawberries pumpkins etc. Sold last year and a 60 house project is going up, broke ground and sticks are already going up. Projected price is $700-750k.
OC is basically built out. I’m seeing small 2-3 houses being built on what once was a lot designed for a single home. I used to be a building contractor. If you want maximum profitability you build high rise condos. Throw a HOA on top and a parking structure below and target yuppie buyers you’ll sell them ASAP. Price them right and a small entry buyer that’s renting a apartment will jump at it. It’s still a apartment but it’s now theirs. Young people or millennials don’t necessarily want a 2/2 or 3/2 with a two car house. They are still struggling but if they had the opportunity to buy a small place it wouldn’t be too much of a stretch. They are used to a apartment or small college dorm living so this wouldn’t be a huge change. Can it fit in their budget? Maybe. But it’s at least something better than renting forever. As they get older start a family and financially stable they would be able to sell and then be the move up crowd.
But the greed should not be underestimated. I’m sure someone will figure out how to pump up the prices and sell to highest bidder and the entry level buyer will still be living in moms basement.
In, I believe, Garden Grove the city used “emend domain” to steel single family homes and build condos to get higher taxes.
It has happened in other states. Been reported on 60 minutes or another news group. I saw the report.
With prop 13 being an issue the cities can confiscate homes and build condos to get more taxes. Government is hungry for taxes.
They have my credit card and will not give it back!
They can’t stop their spending, it’s a government disease.
The Irvine Co. loses tenants because they keep raising rents.
The fast food Chinese place in University Park went out of business because of the new higher rent. I know others have had to close because of the Irvine co.
If I’m not mistaken the Irvine Co. takes 10% of your profit + the rent cost. How can anyone stay in business in Irvine.
Sooner or later Irvine will be nothing but high rises and no good stores.
The committee of 4000 stopped the old Irvine Co. Now there needs to be another group started to stop the new Irvine Co. from expending and screwing the Irvine WE build with our tax dollars.
I just wrote a long email about the Irvine Co and it would send it. We need to be stopped the new Irvine co like we did the old Irvine co. with the committee of 4000.
Cities can take your home and build anything they want to get higher taxes.
The Irvine co loses tenants because they raise the rents, sometimes 3X + they get 10% of your profit.
While I don’t live in Irvine now, I did grow up in Woodbridge. While I really don’t care what they decide to do, I do care for my friends that still live in the area. I spent alot of my youth at that center and my first job was at that Del Taco back in 1984. I personally believe that redesigning it would be the best option. Irvine already has enough housing. Geeez louise, Orange County has about the same population as the state of Oregon!!
Please keep our center intact!
Our kids enjoyed it for many years!
We love the center. It’s part of our neighborhood history.
Thanks,
Our family
As a 20 + year resident of Woodbridge I would suggest they demolish the existing shopping center and rebuild it as a neighborhood center with restaurants that take advantage of the lake view. It is a natural spot for patio dining with water views. I also sorely miss the Pavillions market that once occupied the now defunct asian market. I would hope that stores like Barnes and Noble, Rubys, Champaign and the theaters would be encouraged to stay. The center is a wonderful meeting,place for residents of North and South Lake who can walk or bike to the center.
I would even be accepting of a mixed use center with retail on the bottom and residential development above, but the elimination of all commercial businesses would be a tragedy
I have lived in Irvine for over 30 years.
I believe it is a big mistake to turn this area into housing! We are losing our community feeling because too much housing is going up and we are losing restaurants and stores every week!
We need more to do, not more people!
I would like to see the Irvine Company be more business friendly and not raising rent and forcing them out of this city! EVERYONE I talk to about this feels rhe same way!
Please do not build houses or condos in this area! New restaurants to overlook the lake would be great! Rubys is a family favorite of everyone with kids. Leave it there!
I’ve been a resident & homeowner of Irvine since 1985 & my daughter is now a Senior at Woodbridge HS. I’ve seen a lot of development in Irvine since I’ve lived here. One of the main benefits & reasons why people move to Irvine is because it’s a planned community. It’s a unique place, a thriving city yet with a distinct neighborhood feel with open areas for parks, walking trails, community pools, two lakes & beach clubs. I’ve been greatly disturbed with all of the high rise development that’s been going on in Irvine & the surrounding cities. It’s virtually RUINED the whole uniqueness & community feel of our city as well as the unsightly look of high ri se buildings. It actually makes our city look CHEAP in my opinion. Just like any other over-populated city. What happened to the Irvine city council who used to fiercely fight to keep our community from being overdeveloped & protected our city from the high density type of living, fought for open spaces & quality of life vs. building on every square inch of our already overcrowded city? This is basically building a bunch of apartments & selling them for a profit at the expense of the community! What happened to the Great Park project that was promised with all of the sports, entertainment & community development projects that would benefit our city? It’s still mostly a big tarmac! Looks like it’s being sold to the highest bidder vs. looking out of the residents of our city? The Woodbridge center is an integral part of Irvine, connected to both lakes, Woodbridge high school and walking trails, literally in the center of Irvine. I say overhaul it. Bring in some nice restaurants, stores & shopping that will revitalize the community & produce some good revenue for the city. The lake views are amazing. The parking & traffic would also be a nightmare if it were to be turned into high rise apartments. The traffic pattern to get in & out of the high school is already a nightmare every morning & afternoon. High school parking is already being shared by the neighboring churches that border the school. That area is already too crowded! Not to mention that the elementary, middle & high school right next door are already at capacity! It would be a tragedy in my opinion to turn this shopping center into high rises just for the sake of PROFIT vs. what is best for the existing residents of this amazing city! I personally will move out of Irvine if they continue to build high density housing in Irvine & I know many others who feel the same way. PLEASE DO NOT BUILD ANY MORE HIGH RISES IN IRVINE!!!!
Traffic at the high school wouldn’t be so bad if more kids biked or walked to school. I biked to Woodbridge all four years; Irvine has great bike lanes but I was practically the only one I would see using them. (This was in the 20th Century.) And high-density development doesn’t lead to traffic congestion if you include high-quality mass transit. Here in Arlington, we’ve doubled the population along Wilson Blvd with high-rises and car traffic has actually been reduced because of our other great transportation options. Density can be fantastic if you do it right. And we have to do it, unless we’re willing to pave over our last slice of open space for more single-family houses.
If you don’t know already, woodbridge high school is at full capacity already with roughly about 2,400 students last year. The school wasn’t planned to be permanent, and the space isn’t big enough. Adding high rise condos or anything of that nature will with out a doubt further congest the roads. You bring a point that maybe they should install different forms of transportation, but all it does is further complicate the situation. The Woodbridge community doesn’t need more condos. Too much would have to be done to satisfy everyone. If anything they should just reconstruct the center to make it more appealing such as opening the building structures up towards the lake which would be more inviting than the outdated, closed off, box-like building structure it already is.
The last thing Woodbridge needs is more housing! A revitalized shopping center that adds to the community & preserves the family feel of our area would be more beneficial.
High commercial tenant turnover and abandonment is not an accident. Look at the Irvine Company commercial leasing tactics. Many stores and restaurants close when handed a lease renewal that extorts new rents MANY times higher than their past rent. Since the Irvine Company has more money than God, it can afford to refuse to negotiate an extension at the same or inflation adjusted rent. Have you ever noticed how long stores remain vacant? That is because the Irvine Company makes more money by not compromising on rent increases to stand firm on higher rents for other tenants that will just swallow hard and pony up the higher rents.
1. IRVINE DOES NOT NEED ANY MORE HIGH DENSITY HOUSING. The roads are beginning to look like 5 o clock traffic all hours of the day.
2. Irvine is losing all places where family and friends can go to spend time other than their homes, besides the Spectrum which has become as crowded as the rest of irvine. It’s completely impossible to try to go there on a Friday or Saturday night.
3. This is a wonderful place for children to come and not get in trouble. This is where my friends and I spent the majority of our middle school years and none of us ever got into an ounce of trouble.
4. The Irvine Company is a disgusting monopoly that does not care what the citizens of irvine have to say, so this probably won’t do much. But hopefully if enough people have something to say they’ll be forced to listen
Please keep the woodbridge center.
Stop the Irvine co. from taking everything. Save are center
The Irvine Company has crushed several of my favorite places to dine in the greedy pursuit of even greater profits over the years. Now this plan would sound like a hallucination if I didn’t already know what a greedy bunch the Irvine Company is. Being multi-millionaires is too poor for them. This plan to raze the Woodbridge Village Center and build condos is a direct insult to we long-term residents of Irvine. It’s like “Screw you, resident!” If our city council does not stand united in opposition to this latest rape of Irvine, I’m voting against them all next election.
I have lived in Irvine since 1979. It pains me to see what has become of our city. Yes, I knew there was a Master Plan. But drawings provided no insight into the traffic that would come with the growth, or the general deterioration of the quality of life of the Irvine’s citizens. The Woodbridge Center is unique in character. It should be preserved with stores added, like a Trader Joes or Vons (again) that would serve the needs of the local residents and encourage walking versus driving. We’ve already let things come too far, but just maybe we can rally enough support for the center (and for the return of a restaurant to the former site of Waters Restaurant!!!) to at least assure it is left zoned as commercial and isn’t turned into condos.
Are you kidding? Does Irvine need any more condos? No! The Irvine Company is the pariah of Irvine, the city for which it is named. Most of the long time residents detest the Irvine Company. They do not care about people. Cities are made up of people but so are companies. It is the poor decision made by people that ruin our city. It is their problem that the original shopping center in Irvine is not successful. It is their brutal profit motivated policies that makes it a disaster. Plenty of other shopping center developers give rent relief when times are tough. Not the Irvine Company. They don’t care if spaces are empty for years at a time. It’s a tax write-off for them. We’ve lost so many of our favorite stores and restaurants because of the Irvine Company. If you are going to create such density, then you will have to keep our businesses. Get creative. Do something for the city that is named after you people. Our city is lost if the city council allows the Irvine Company to run our town. It’s truly disgusting. I’ve lived here for almost 30 years and I intend to leave as soon as my daughter graduates from high school. How pitiful.
Slow the growth. Build with creativity and respect for the Woodbridge neighborhood.
The great recession is behind us. Time to dial back to measured growth and masterful planning such as the community was built on.
A large reason for the Woodbridge center’s performance of late is due to The Irvine Company itself, driving out successful businesses like Chevy’s Restaurant and Vons.
And couldn’t TIC have saved Waters? Yes, Waters was in need of something, but the answer wasn’t to raise that iconic structure to the ground, plant some scrubby grass and leave it sitting there – a dull space. (When I think of the beautiful structure that was there before – with that gorgeous bougainvillea that found its way into so many photographs – and compare it to what you’ve done, it makes me want to vomit).
Donald Bren, you’re already the wealthiest man in Orange County. Surely it’s not more money that drives you. You still have a legacy to shape – and the shareholders of TIC have a responsibility to preserve what was sold and promised to us 30+ years ago. Don’t just make the legacy about profit. Keep the blossom on this rose. Nurture this dream community. Do the right thing.
I have to agree with your views Stephen. I couldn’t have said it any better. In added support and my resident history, I lived here since 1979, before the South Lake and its housing. All the Eucalyptus trees lined our streets. The Woodbridge Center was a bright beacon, with a Vons grocery store, later on Chevy’s came aboard, never knew Chevy’s to be dead, people drove from all areas outside of our community. Everyone was surprised to learn they had closed! Why? .. Because, TIC lease was not affordable to release. They, the Irvine Company, Donald Bren have destroyed the growth of any proprietorship over many years to bring about this under profit of business. Remember Joe’s Place, it served all the Italian cuisine, and how delicious it was! Never an empty seat, so busy you had to wait to dine, even with a second floor to its restaurant! People loved that after dining, there was the theatre next door, it was quite a duo! Then there was Waters Restaurant, it had to be profitable, and with its potential including parking access, and an elevator in place! Come on … A new structure could of been built, I understand a tent is not possible to seal while part of Waters was built over the lake and due to harming the wildlife it was not possible to eradicate termite damage. A structure setting back from the lake could of been an alternative. In any case, I think the Irvine residents will be in for a hard fight against TIC! We already paid our dues, so to speak, we are not in the driving seat, only obstacles in the way. How many of us do you think will actually move, otherwise what is our threat to them, TIC and Donald Bren. It is all about money, and in this day and age isn’t that what Corporate growth is all about. Still, I am taking the time to support the community in this battle. My three children are all grown, I raised them here, they all attended their designated Woodbridge schools. Thirty five years later! My oldest is now thirty two, and I am enjoying her children with excitement, having them see and experience this community with Ruby’s for dining, Barnes and Noble, the centers play courtyard where we all spend hours! We all paid for the tiles our kids created there many years ago! Please rather refurbish and improve, while preserving this great Master Planned Community! We are known over the world and many Community projects have copied us and our Village. Yes it did take a Village of people to make the Irvine Company possess their Seal of success. The Woodbridge people had to make our house a home, and we have worked hard in supporting our Woodbridge Community throughout the years. We did do the right thing, and now TIC needs to do the right thing! ~
As a resident of Woodbridge I urge you to keep our much valued Woodbridge Village Center! In the 5 years my family has lived here I am very impressed by the community of Woodbridge. The residents love the community and value the many resources we have here. As an urban planning graduate of UCI I understand that village centers are essential to the vitality of a unified and thriving community! Woodbridge Village Center needs to be shown a lot of love! Build it up! Create a center that can be a hub. We LOVE the restaurants, bookstore, toy store, theatre, art centers, playground and the new Pedego!! Let me just say that who ever put Pedego in that center was genius! Our family loves to rent electric bicycles and ride the bicycle paths all the way down to the Newport back bay. What a fabulous family activity!
We DO NOT need anymore condos or housing! Support the community and residents you have in Woodbridge already. Woodbridge is truly something special. But squeezing housing into every nook and cranny is not what makes a city special. In fact, that ruins it. “Special” comes from thoughtful amenities and unique shopping centers that tie into the community.
Bring a farmer’s market in here! Bring more unique restaurants! Bring back grocery markets! Do something GREAT, not shortsighted.
Please save the Woodbridge Center! Please no condos.
We moved to Irvine 7 years ago this August from Long Island where villages and hamlets abound. Long Island had towns that felt smaller due to a central gathering places where good coffee can be found, politics spoken and shopping for necessities and needless things are the first place I’d go rather than the big box stores. We bought a cottage style home in Woodbridge because it felt as close to an East Coast village as one can get in So Cal and WB Village Center was as close as we could get in Irvine. I am very sad about the changes that are happening all around us in this short time in Irvine. The Irvine Company is bigger than the average person and does what is the best for the Irvine Comapny & not the people that live here. Mom & Pop businesses are non-existent, restaurants are all nasty chains, a community once thriving with old fashioned relationships is fading away right in front of our eyes. The WB Village Center could use a small facelift and some cool businesses to frequent more often, I agree. But the damn rent is too high and regular businesses can not make it and have not been or are being replaced! The thread or downtown of WB will fade if more condos or straight on houses are built. I love the new bike shop and it’s owner, the movie theater, Champaigne’s, Ruby’s, Barnes & Noble and would love to see it stay the way it is – facelift away Irvine Company, just don’t destroy and replace because we don’t currently have good choices for shopping or a destination center to do all our business. Please.
We strongly oppose turning the Woodbridge Village Center into new housing entirely. What we really need and have been waiting for in our community is some great cafes, coffeehouses and family friendly entertainment! Why not reach out to us for ideas on what retailers would prosper? What about having some ideas from the children at school as a project. We could really provide you with some creative and excellent ideas!
While we are not opposed to refreshing the look of the center please listen to our community when we are literally begging for good places to spend our money! NO MORE CONDOS!
If I would be so obliged as to share my opinion, I would say that there is enough housing in the area in question. Adding more housing, especially high density, high rise condos would add to the traffic and detract from the aesthetics of the area. I would fully support the redevelopment of the shopping area, however.
If we could bring in some nice trendy restaurants and develop an area that has easy pedestrian and bike access as well as some early evening appeal for hanging out after dinner, I think that would be much more valuable to our great city of Irvine.
Please consider my opinion and know that many around me feel the same. Instead of ending up with an overpopulated area with a lack of culture, I feel the Woodbridge Village Center area has vast potential as an area that can bring together the people of Irvine and further increase profitability of the property and homes around the Center!
I urge you to keep the Woodbridge Center just that! No condos apts or highrises! I have lived in Woodbridge since 1977. The center was a gathering place for all of us here in this beautiful community! Raising my sons here it was a safe haven for them to go to the movie. Get a pizza. Run to the market for mom. Buy their Christmas gifts for Mom and Dad without having to get in a car! All done on their bikes!
Already the traffic on Barranca and Alton is too heavy. With 2 Senior living complexes on Lake and Creek and Woodbridge HS close by what we don’t need is more cars! There are times when I leave my complex on Lakeside and the traffic on Barranca is impossible to cross. For pedestrians even worse!
My husband and I walk thru the center every day to pick up a baguette, buy a book, get a watch battery, have breakfast or lunch, see a movie. Please do not take away all our Village conveniences. We miss Water’s every time we pass by the pad!
Thanks for understanding the old village promise to all of us who purchased homes here!
Karin Lekas
I am a 15 year Irvine resident. I have seen the city grow with lack of infrastructure to support all of the housing that has been put into place. The last thing that we need to do is demolish a wonderful and viable shopping center. Please think about your current residents instead of trying to bring in more people resulting in overcrowding and unhappiness.
The shopping center doesn’t need to be replaced– it needs to be made relevant again. Most importantly, it needs to cater to local pedestrians and regional bicyclists.
The center sits smack dab in the middle of a massive chunk of housing and a high school. It has pedestrian bridges and one of the most well-trafficked bikeways in Orange County. That means that the business should stay away from large grocery stores, doctor’s offices, and anything for youth that youth would not walk to.
First, the Center needs a cafe/diner facing the San Diego Creek with AMPLE, SECURE bike parking. Make a grand entrance to/from the bike path. Give it a bike-y name and you have the makings of a bicycle destination hotpot. Open 6:30am – 2pm, the establishment would serve breakfast and lunch only. For the high school lunch, they could have some pre-made sandwiches, chips, etc.
Next, you need a couple more restaurants in the center. Ruby’s is insufficient on its own. Throw a tapas/pub or a gastropub in there and maybe vegetarian option. Allow them to grow to 2-story establishments. Make these restaurants accessible mainly through the Del Taco parking lot.
The courtyard is great and the children’s play area is very attractive. Keep it that way, but renovate the interior. It’s too dark.
Keep the movie theater, but spruce it up and add some active programming. That means polling customers and nearby residents for their tastes. Saturday and Sunday matinees can be “Viewer’s Choice” flicks where the managers of the theater show, based on surveys, movies or even *SHOWS* that are normally not available.
Throw in a small general market (milk, eggs, fruit, etc.). You’d be surprised how well-trafficked it is by people making a quick stop after a movie or meal.
On the south side (with Barnes and Noble), expand the darn sidewalk. Narrow the columns if at all possible and remove as much pedestrian obstruction as possible.
Final key point — Too much space in this (and most) Irvine shopping centers are wasted on oversupplying parking. With a Center in the middle of SO MUCH HOUSING, the parking eats up too much space that could be generating revenue. Target your local customers and they will walk/bike in. Pedestrians require no parking and you can fit 8 bikes into the same space as a single parking stall. Cater to the customers first, the businesses second, and automobiles last.
I am furious if and when the Irvine Company decides to destroy the Woodbridge Village Center. Of course the Irvine Company is only interested in making money rather than providing something unique to the nearby residents as well as the overall City of Irvine!!! I have lived in Irvine all my life, particularly in Woodbridge for 29 years, which I am proud to say!!! The Village Center has numerous memories for me all the way to the movie theater before it closed and reopened as a dollar theater, to Chevy’s Mexican Restaurant which overlooked the lake, as well as the Water’s Restaurant which closed many years ago and has since been torn down. The Center is basically the pinnacle that makes Woodbridge what it is, as well as kind of be the landmark that is in the middle between both South Lake and North Lake!!!! If that is taken away, Woodbridge will most doubtfully loose its identity, its rich history as the FIRST masterplan community of Irvine, as well as make it like every other community in the nation!!!
If the Irvine Company is so concerned about making a profit, then why don’t they sell the property to another developer who might have a better way to turn this Center around that doesn’t jeopardize the history and community it serves?!
I think that the Irvine Company has gotten TOO big for its own good. What I mean is look at EVERY retail center that the Irvine Company owns. If you take a good look, they ALL are a cookie cutter of one another, because everything is the same!!! The architecture, the color scheme, the signage, and even the type of stores that occupy the buildings!!!! It has positioned itself in a way where it almost seems like a monopoly or conglomerate where it just eats up all the real estate, causing VERY high rent and for merchants and businesses to close at an alarming rate!!!
Case in point, probably some of the stores that had once occupied the Center, such as Water’s Restaurant, Chevy’s Mexican Restaurant, Pavilions, and quite possibly other merchants at other Irvine Company owned retail centers like Claim Jumper at the Westpark Plaza and maybe others like over at the Irvine/Tustin Marketplace!!!
There is so much potential that the Woodbridge Village Center can be and do, and if someone has the right vision then the heart of Woodbridge can be saved, because simply by building housing or another “Irvine Company retail center” will surely destroy this community and cause Woodbridge’s identity to fade forever!!!
Here is my most recent blog post: Woodbridge’s Fate will be Decided at the Ballot Box.
http://melissafoxblog.com/2014/09/10/woodbridges-fate-will-be-decided-at-the-ballot-box/
Woodbridge residents are gravely concerned that new development will soon add unwanted housing and traffic congestion to Woodbridge and forever change the character of their beautiful community – without their input or consent.
Here is what the group Friends of WVC (Woodbridge Village Center) recently said in an email: “Big changes are in the works for the Woodbridge Village Center. The Irvine Company is presently evaluating options to replace the Village Center with either a residential development (most likely condominiums), or with a standard shopping center. Regardless of the option selected, the current Village Center will most likely be destroyed.”
When Woodbridge opened on Father’s Day in 1975, it was Irvine’s premier master planned community, showcasing Irvine’s commitment to creating villages of single family homes and townhouses, with parks, greenbelts, bicycle trails, interconnecting pathways, open space, and neighborhood shopping.
By any measure, Woodbridge has been a fantastic success.
Community spirit has been, and continues to be, tremendously high. Sure, there are a few problems and some things that people would like to see changed or improved.
For example, many people would like to see a new anchor store in the Village Center and new coffee houses and restaurants.
Like most of Irvine, the WVC could use more ample and more secure bicycle parking, especially since Woodbridge has some of the most used and beautiful bikeways in the City.
But these few problems and suggested minor changes are very small in comparison to the great sense of community belonging and community pride shared by the residents of Woodbridge. Woodbridge remains one of Irvine’s most walkable, bikeable, and beautiful communities.
And, as someone wrote in OC Housing News, “the Woodbridge Center is an integral part of Irvine, connected to both lakes, Woodbridge high school and walking trails, literally in the center of Irvine.”
After 40 years of success, the people of Woodbridge love their community, and they love their Woodbridge Village Center.
That’s why people are so upset by the prospect that their Village Center will be destroyed and replaced with high density apartments and condos or office buildings
What people may not realize is that the City Council has the full legal power to tell the developer that it can’t do whatever it wants to the Woodbridge Village Center, and specifically that it can’t unilaterally change the fundamental character of the community.
In fact, I believe it is the obligation of the City Council to ensure that the public interest – in preventing over-crowding, increased crime and congestion, and in preserving the character of our communities – comes before the private interests of developers, no matter how big and powerful those developers may be.
As another Woodbridge resident put it in OC Housing News, “Slow the growth. Build with creativity and respect for the Woodbridge neighborhood. The great recession is behind us. Time to dial back to measured growth and masterful planning such as the community was built on.” I could not agree more.
Unfortunately, the current City Council majority of Mayor Steven Choi, Councilmember Jeffrey Lalloway and Councilmember Christina Shea, see it quite differently. They want more development, faster development, and denser development.
Recall that this is a City Council majority that has hastily approved an unprecedented 10,000 additional new houses and apartments in Irvine (bringing along an additional 20,000-30,000 new cars and 30,000-50,000 new people), jamming our traffic and over-crowding our schools.
If the current City Council majority is retained – if Mayor Steven Choi and Councilmember Jeffrey Lalloway are relected – nothing will stop developers from doing whatever the developers want to do, in Woodbridge and throughout the City.
In contrast, I pledge that if I am elected to the City Council I will use the full legal authority of the Council to prevent runaway development, to demand that the voices of Irvine’s residents be heard before any new development is approved, and to ensure that no new condos, office buildings or housing tracts will be permitted without proper planning and consideration of their impact on our traffic, our schools, and the character of our communities.
The fate of the Woodbridge Village Center – and Woodbridge’s survival as a low density, family oriented community with a relaxed village atmosphere – will be decided this November, at the ballot box.
Trader Joes would be a perfect draw to Woodbridge Center. Perhaps boutiques like they used to have. Somewhere to clothes and shoes shop without having to go to a huge shopping center. It’s become basically useless with the businesses currently there. Medical in theme. The main reason to go is the movie theater. Plus it’s a great place for kids to hang out. So build on that theme! Family oriented which is what Woodbridge is about.
I am a young man who came to Irvine at 6 months old and spent 20+ years growing up in our Woodbridge Community. It would be a TRAGEDY to see The Center replaced with condos. I have had so many priceless moments there of fun and warmth. PLEASE KEEP IT INTACT AND REVIVE THE CENTER! After being 1 out of 10 Teens in the Nation to be selected to go to Washington D.C to discuss cross country teen issues on capitol hill as a Teen Ambassador for the Irvine youth with the blessings of former mayor Beth Krome, I am telling you that the center is a positive force for our youth and families in the Woodbridge Community as well as Irvine in General. #SaveOurCenter
This center has been part of Woodbridge for so long. It’s what make woodbrige what it is
We just need to get more big name place( store/resturants) in the center and advertise about the enter.
With out this center Woodbridge would be almost all house.
Keep keep Woodbridge center