The City Council is meeting on August 13th to consider a resolution to affirm that "it has no intent to change the General Plan and/or Zoning Ordinance designations applicable to the RCI property." 

This resolution was requested by Mayor Shea and Council member Carroll based on the turnout by more than two hundred at their Town Hall meeting on July 11th.  Based on their prior public statements, we are expecting that Council Members Kuo, Khan and Fox will also be voting in favor of the resolution.

The Spearmans and KB Home, since withdrawing their application to build 123 homes, have been talking to City Council members and held a "community meeting" August 7th with a proposal to build just 49 homes on half of the RCI parcel.   As part of its proposal, KB Home implicitly threatened the prospect of the RCI parcel being sold and used for another type of "Commercial Recreation" -- which would not require a zoning change or general plan amendment.  The response at the meeting from the community was an emphatic "NO!"  Nor do we believe that this attempt to coopt the resolution will affect the resolve of any of the City Council members. 

So you may be wondering, Should I attend the City Council meeting and make a statement? 

We would like to suggest as follows:

Yes, mass attendance will demonstrate to the City Council that Irvine residents are united in  opposing any development of the RCI property which is contrary to the original plan and zoning, as well as any revised development plans or delay in adopting the proposed resolution.

• If you do attend, wear a yellow neon shirt to show solidarity.
• If you do make a statement, please keep it respectful and short. Perhaps just say you support the proposed resolution and preserving RCI as a recreational facility (or that you support what a prior speaker said).
• In response to the 49 home proposal, you might also urge the City Council to go on record as opposing any approvals (not just zoning and General Plan amendments) that would result in the RCI space being used as anything other than a recreational sports facility centered around tennis. 
• It is probably not necessary to state the reasons for your position.  You can just refer to the actual text of the proposed resolution, which summarized public concerns with redevelopment of the RCI property as:

1) deprive the community of an important recreational amenity
2) negatively impact the neighborhood character
3) impair open space values                                                                       4) negatively impact traffic in the area; and
5) result in significant land use incompatibilities (among other concerns).

WHEN:       Tuesday, August 13.  Meeting starts at 4:00 p.m.  RCI        resolution probably will be discussed between 5:00-7:00 p.m.

WHERE:     Irvine Civic Center (Alton at Harvard) 

The Coalition to Save the Racquet Club of Irvine