Publisher’s Perspective: Irvine’s Impressive Environmental Record

As we approach Earth Day on April 22nd, it seems appropriate to take a look back at Irvine’s impressive environmental record and see what’s next for our remarkably “green” City.

Irvine has been fortunate to have been led by a number of environmental champions. Mary Ann Gaido, who passed away in 2023, was among our early exceptional leaders. She was on the City’s first Transportation Commission and spent 20 years on the Planning Commission. Gaido also served on the City Council from 1976 until 1984 — helping to establish the City’s first General Plan. The Plan was a comprehensive, long-range vision of Irvine’s future development and preservation.

As Mayor of Irvine in 1989, Larry Agran partnered with scientists at UCI to draft and adopt a local ordinance — the first of its kind in the entire country — that banned chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) and other ozone-depleting chemicals. The New York Times called the City ordinance “the most far-reaching measure” to control ozone-depleting chemicals, and Bloomberg Magazine credited Irvine with “kick-starting the recovery” of the ozone layer. The UCI scientists won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry and the City of Irvine was honored by the United Nations.

During that same time, Agran led the City Council in implementing Irvine’s curbside recycling program. He also joined forces with his good friend and mentor, Mary Ann Gaido, as well as UCI professor and Councilmember Ray Catalano to preserve more than 10,000 acres of wilderness and natural open space for families to enjoy forever.

A decade later, in the late 1990s and early 2000s, Agran worked alongside thousands of Irvine residents and then-Councilmember and later Mayor Beth Krom to block the Orange County Board of Supervisors’ disastrous plan to build a massive international airport in North Irvine that would have devastated our neighborhoods and destroyed our quality of life with 24/7 noise and air pollution. The airport plan was finally defeated through a county-wide vote in 2002.

Former Mayor Christina Shea helped make Irvine, in 2016, the first city in Orange County to approve an ordinance banning certain landscaping toxics, allowing only the use of organic pesticides and herbicides on City properties.

After rejoining the Irvine City Council in 2020, Agran began working with hundreds of families in North Irvine to stop another environmental and public health disaster — a dangerous asphalt plant that had become Irvine’s largest industrial polluter. The plant has now been closed and the surrounding land is being cleared to make way for a stunning 700-acre nature preserve that will be filled with hiking and biking trails for all Irvine citizens to enjoy. (The closure of the asphalt plant has significantly improved air quality throughout our entire City.)

As Irvine’s Mayor from 2020-2024, Farrah Khan focused heavily on green initiatives. She was instrumental in advocating for the Solarize Irvine program, including rooftop solar installations. Khan was also the force behind the very popular Irvine CONNECT free shuttle bus service.

Now, back as Irvine’s Mayor once again, Agran and his team are working on three new green projects: (1) a citywide forestation plan that will add tens of thousands of trees throughout Irvine in the next few years; (2) a plan to significantly expand the Irvine CONNECT transit system using state funds that Agran secured years ago; and, (3) a City-backed program to help thousands of homeowners install rooftop solar panels and battery storage backup systems to dramatically reduce (or virtually eliminate) monthly electricity bills.

As we celebrate Earth Day, we can take pride in knowing that Irvine continues to do more than just talk about our environmental goals. With a long history of environmental leadership, we appear well on our way to realizing Mayor Agran’s aspiration for Irvine to become “America’s Greenest City!”