Irvine leaders are finalizing plans for creating a new nature preserve and for the housing project that is helping make it possible.
This week, the City Council unanimously approved blueprints for the 81-acre Gateway Village and some of the plans for the 700-acre Gateway Preserve that will connect the Jeffrey Open Space Trail with Limestone Canyon, Blackstar Canyon and the Cleveland National Forest.
“It’s amazing to me to think that this actually started from, or really emanated from, a toxic asphalt plant,” Councilmember Mike Carroll said during the meeting. “That was really a blight on our map.”
The All American Asphalt plant that had been in business since the early 1990s predated much of the residential development that crept closer over the years to where it was tucked into the hills of the city’s northern end. As complaints grew from residents of the surrounding developments about odors and air pollution, the Irvine City Council agreed to purchase the plant for $285 million. Operations shut down in November 2023.
The city’s purchase of the 11-acre property was concurrent with a donation by the Irvine Company of about 475 acres of land. The sale of a portion for the new residential village funded the plant purchase.
The Gateway Village is planned to house an estimated population of 2,561 people just south of the preserve.
The 81-acre village will accommodate 1,138 residential units, with an average of 15 units per acre. The new for-sale homes will range from approximately 1,050 to 2,600 square feet, with a mix of two- and three-story options with one to five bedrooms.
A fourth of the homes will be designated for lower-income households, officials said.
Planned neighborhood amenities include 2 acres of parks and just over 5 acres of recreational space to include a community garden, barbecue areas and a junior Olympic-size pool.
Visions for the neighboring Gateway Preserve are less concrete.
The city has identified about 9 miles of multi-use trails to be built. There will be a main parking lot and a staging area at the northern end of the Jeffrey Open Space Trail.
“And we’ll be developing other infrastructure as part of establishing the trail system,” said Nathan Gregory, senior vice president of the Irvine Ranch Conservancy — the city’s nonprofit partner in natural land management.
But plans for the future repurposing of the asphalt plant site have not been made yet; that will come further down the line, Gregory said.
The city is currently in the process of its “restoration and recreation” plans, or restoring the preserve to its original, natural state, officials said.
And land development is on track to begin in early 2026, city officials said.