IRVINE : Council Splits on Christ College Levy

A divided City Council voted this week to require Christ College Irvine to pay $2 million if it ever closes its athletic facilities to the public.

City staff members and two council members had recommended that the college pay closer to $4.4 million. But three other council members agreed with college officials to set the amount at $2 million.

“I don’t want to be sitting up here, gouging anybody, especially when they’ve been a friend to the community,” Councilwoman Christina L. Shea said.

Christ College Irvine, a small private college set in the hills of Turtle Rock, agreed last year to open its athletic facilities “in perpetuity” to the public in exchange for being allowed to sell 40% of its campus to housing developers.

The college allows community groups to use its buildings and fields. But Christ College officials offered last year to open its ball courts and gymnasium on a scheduled basis to make their proposed 154-house project more acceptable to Turtle Rock residents.

College and city officials, in writing the contract spelling out the days and hours campus facilities must be made available to the public, agreed on all terms except a “buyout” option that will allow the college to break the agreement for a fee.

The college believes $1 million would be a substantial figure but not hurt the college if it some day sold the campus, said Philip Bettencourt, Christ College’s development consultant.

City staff members calculated the value to residents of the athletic fields and buildings to be close to $4.4 million, said John A. McAllister, a Community Services Department superintendent. That would be the amount the college could give the city to end the agreement and should be increased each year to reflect inflation, McAllister said.

Mayor Michael Ward, however, proposed a fixed amount of $2 million as a compromise. The amount would not be increased to reflect inflation, but the college would not be allowed to exercise the buyout option until 1998, Ward proposed. The council passed Ward’s proposal 3 to 2, with Councilwoman Paula Werner and Councilman William A. (Art) Bloomer opposed.