University Hills, Irvine, California

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For the East Los Angeles community, see University Hills, Los Angeles, California.

University Hills is a community in southern Irvine, California. Located on the campus of the University of California, Irvine, University Hills was built by the university as a place for faculty to find affordable, local housing; house prices are roughly 75% of what they would be in neighboring communities.

1 Geography
2 History
3 Street Naming Scheme
4 Governing
5 Community Center
6 References
7 See also
8 External links

[edit] Geography

A satellite view of University Hills.

University Hills, as its name suggests, consists of a hill. The lowest point on this hill, which is the intersection of East Peltason Drive and Los Trancos Drive, is approximately 140 feet above sea level. There is a gradual rise for about half a mile until the hill levels off at about 300 feet. As a result, from Vista Point on Urey Court, all of Irvine and most of Orange County is visible. Though University Hills is located on one of the northernmost and westernmost hills of the San Joaquin Hills, little of it is truly natural.

[edit] History

Though UCI had looked into creating faculty housing since 1969, no on-campus faculty-housing was built until the completion of the Las Lomas Apartments in 1982. Las Lomas, located on what would become the northwest end of University Hills, offered small apartments to faculty members for rent. Soon after the completion of Las Lomas, construction on University Hills proper began. Construction on University Hills has proceeded in a number of small phases, consisting of a few streets each. The most recent phase, Phase 850, was completed in June 2005; two more phases, Phase 9 and Phase 10, remain to be built. In addition, construction on Santiago Apartments, student housing on the northeast corner of University Hills, has begun; completion is expected in summer 2007.

As University Hills grew in size, different types of houses became available. The very first houses, completed in 1986, were mostly townhomes with a few detached houses; in addition, 13 lots were made available for custom-built homes.

Current Housing

Apartments, condominiums, townhomes, and detached houses are now available in sizes ranging from 800 to 2900 feet. These include the new student housing on Gabrielino Drive as well as the proposed student housing at Santiago Apartments. Also, as the community has grown, many amenities were added. These include Los Trancos Playground and Pool, located near Las Lomas; Vista Bonita Park; the Garden Park; Reines Vista (named after Nobel physicist Frederick Reines); Urey Pool, Playground and Tennis Court; Gabrielino Pool; Gabrielino Community Park; and the Indy 500 Dog Park. In addition, the Tierney University House, which has housed UCI's chancellor since the chancellorship of Ralph Cicerone, is located in the southwest corner of University Hills. Furthermore, the entire community is surrounded by a large wilderness area which is traversed by many trails most of which will be destroyed by phase nin and ten.

[edit] Street Naming Scheme

The main cross streets of University Hills are Los Trancos Drive, Gabrielino Drive, Vista Bonita Drive, and California Avenue. All other streets in University Hills are named after famous scientists, writers, artists, or musicians. In fact, for Phases 1 through 6, these names follow an alphabetical pattern, summarized as follows:

Located off Los Trancos Drive, going southward or uphill: Alcott, Blake, Curie (named after both Pierre and Marie Curie), Dickens, Gibbs, Harvey, and Locke.

Located off Vista Bonita Drive, going eastward (north side only): Mendel, Newton, Owen, and Perkins.

Located off Gabrielino Drive, going northward (north side only): Russell, Schubert, and Thompson.

Located off Vista Bonita Drive, going eastward (south side only): Urey, Virgil, and Whitman.

Located off California Avenue: Whistler, Young, and Zola.

In addition, these streets are not named in alphabetical order: Bartok, Eliot, Handel, McClintock, Joyce, Murasaki, Fuertes, O'Keefe, Frost, Twain, and Brontë.

The street names are suggested by community members to a committee, which chooses the best names.

[edit] Governing

University Hills is governed by the Homeowners Review Board, or HRB, which controls the parks and facilities as well as the architectural review. ICHA, or Irvine Campus Housing Administration, takes care of administration.

[edit] Community Center

In addition to the recently completed dog park, a community center is also planned for this community. Such a community center would be located near Gabrielino Community Park, but recent controversy and public opposition have put the project on hold.

[edit] References

University Hills Newsletters, which were used for the street names.
History of University Hills from the UCI Library web site
"Neighborhood is haven for UCI employees", Orange County Register, Jan. 14, 1993.
"A place for professors to learn to appreciate a short commute" and "CSUF having hard time duplicating UCI enclave", Orange County Register, Nov. 7, 1997.
"Universities dangle housing incentive before faculty recruits", San Diego Union Tribune, Jan. 17, 2006.
"Housing Perks on the Rise for Middle Class", Los Angeles Times, Apr. 3, 2006.