White-tailed kites (Elanus leucurus) rely on the project site for food.  Photo Credit: Tonya Fannon, 2023

Canyon Fire 2 burned 9217 acres, including Irvine Regional Park (pictured), Orange Heights project site & Peters Cyn Regional Park in 2017.  Photo Credit: ©leegamer, 2017

Mountain lion (Puma concolor) from trail camera in Fremont Canyon (east of Irvine Regional Park), Irvine Ranch Conservancy.

City Council: councilinfo@cityoforange.org

Mayor Dan Slater: dan@danslater.com

Council Member John Gyllenhammer: jgyllenhammer@cityoforange.org

City Council's Office
300 E. Chapman Ave.
Orange, CA 92866

(714) 744-2211

The Irvine Company proposes to destroy almost 400 acres (size of Banning Ranch!) of wildlife habitat by developing 1180 new homes between Irvine Regional Park, Peters Canyon Regional Park, Jamboree and the 241 toll road.  Formerly known as "Santiago Hills Phase II," they now call it "Orange Heights."

In typical marketing fashion, they promote themselves as heroes for preserving open space when, in fact, we have lost our entire valley ecosystem because of their rampant development schemes.  We need to stand up to this bully and defend this valuable foothill ecosystem which supports deer, bobcats, mountain lions, foxes, long-tailed weasels, white-tailed kites, gnatcatchers, cactus wren, roadrunners, quail, pollinators and many other voiceless animals who need it for their survival.  This proposed project has the potential to significantly increase noise, air, light and water pollution and degrade the quality of life for current residents in East Orange. 

On Nov. 8, 2005, despite widespread opposition, the Orange City Council (Mark Murphy, Carolyn Cavecche, Tita Smith, Jon Dumitru & Steve Ambriz) betrayed our community and voted 5-0 to approve The Irvine Company’s Environmental Impact Report (EIR) for the controversial 4100-home proposed development project in the rural foothills of Orange known as "Santiago Hills Phase II.”  NO Canyon Hills is working to protect the Verdugo Hills from a similar proposed development project that was approved by LA City Council 18 years ago. 

Surprisingly, EIR's do not expire, which is a major flaw in CEQA.  A new Environmental Impact Report (EIR) needs to be drafted and circulated to take into the consideration all of the new housing developments, recent wildfires, wildlife habitat loss, increased pollution, traffic congestion and other issues that have plagued Orange County over the past 18 years.  It does not matter how much the project has been scaled back.  We cannot afford to lose more of our rural open space to inappropriate urban sprawl. Please call, email and write letters to Mayor Dan Slater and Orange city council members and tell them to stop this destructive project and require a new EIR.  Don't let The Irvine Company make a profit at our expense.