Irvine council directs city attorney to draft ballot options after weeks of debate over Oak Creek Golf Course

Irvine — The City Council voted 7-0 on July 22 to ask the city attorney to prepare ballot language to settle whether preserved open space in Irvine can be changed without direct voter approval and to draft an alternative two-measure approach that would separately put the future of the Oak Creek Golf Course before voters.

Supporters and opponents packed the council chambers for the discussion, which followed several scoping sessions earlier this summer about a proposed 3,100-unit residential project on the Oak Creek Golf Course submitted by the Irvine Company. The council’s motion directs staff to return with formal ballot language and related election resolutions at the council’s Aug. 12 meeting; staff said any council-initiated ballot measure that would change land use designations likely would trigger environmental review under the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA).

The vote came after hours of public comment, with dozens of residents urging the council either to protect Oak Creek as part of Irvine’s preservation system or to allow a public vote on whether that parcel may be redesigned for housing. City Attorney Jeff Melching framed the legal background: a 1988 voter initiative (often referenced in staff materials as Initiative Resolution 88-1) and a subsequent 1988 open space memorandum of understanding between the city and the Irvine Company set out a phased program for…