The Graying of Irvine: City Is Planning

For nearly three decades it has been a beacon to young families. A hallmark of well-planned modernity. The growing, developing city with a youthful attitude and a shiny new look.

But like much of America, Irvine is getting older.

You can see it in the bureaucrats, once cutting-edge young master-planners, now graying and moving toward retirement. You can see it in the bustling senior centers and in the recent, startling demographic discovery that only about a third of the city’s households include children.

In the next 20 years, city planners project, the percentage of Irvine residents who are 55 and older will more than double--from its current level of 13% to about 30% of the population by 2020.

In many respects, the anticipated spike in Irvine’s senior population is not much different from what’s happening in many of the more affluent communities in Orange County, says John Buzas, manager of current planning services for the county. (More affluent cities tend to be older because younger people, just starting out, cannot afford their housing.) Overall, America’s average age is rising as baby boomers near retirement age.

But this is the city that plans for everything--including its old age. Senior groups and city leaders already are examining the needs that are likely to arise, contemplating everything from adding another senior center and new bus routes to creating job-training programs and computer classes for people living longer and retiring later.

In addition to increased demand for senior services, the graying of Irvine already shows signs of spurring political and financial shifts as well, affecting everything from the city’s tax base to the school district’s so far unsuccessful efforts to pass a parcel tax.

Irvine’s projected doubling of the senior population “speaks volumes,” says George Searcy, superintendent of senior services for the city. “The impact upon the psyche and the demand for certain kinds of services and facilities and homes and shopping, it’s just going to be a sea change.”

That change will become even more apparent in the next several months as the city updates its housing statistics. And with the help of a consultant, the nonprofit Irvine Senior Foundation is interviewing residents and conducting focus groups among various age groups to learn how best to meet the burgeoning needs of Irvine’s seniors. That report is expected in March.

Already, advocates for senior citizens say, certain things are clear.

As property values in Southern California soar, there is intense demand for low-income senior housing in Irvine and elsewhere. Irvine has about 150 units of low-income senior housing while 600 qualified residents remain on the waiting list, says Irvine Senior Foundation executive director Judy Wright. Low income is defined as 80% of the median county income or lower; in 1998, that was $61,812 for a family of four.

“Many of the seniors here retired 15 or 20 years ago when salaries were a lot lower. Their pensions, their retirement income is not very high,” Wright says.

Housing concerns make up more than a quarter of all requests for assistance fielded by the city’s senior services.

Many Irvine Residents Want to Stay in City

Of course, older people could move to senior enclaves elsewhere--but they don’t want to. “The majority of people prefer to stay in their own homes,” says social worker Carol Green, outreach supervisor for the city’s two senior centers.

Green says residents say they want to spend their older years in Irvine for many of the same reasons they were drawn there in the first place: It’s a nice place to live, and it’s perceived as safe.

Older people who can afford to stay in their houses often discover other reasons why that doesn’t work. One-story houses--easier on older joints--are unpopular with developers, who can sell multistory homes on the same amount of land for higher prices. Most apartment buildings in the city are built without elevators. The upscale retirement community Regents Point has a waiting list of up to six years for certain housing units.

Tom Duttine, 68, moved to Irvine in 1970. But three years ago, Duttine, who works part time supervising student teachers for the city’s Concordia University, left for Mission Viejo because he wanted a single-story house. It was important to him that he not have to climb stairs as he grew older.

“Irvine is the nicest place to live, but they don’t have senior housing,” says Duttine.

With the newest facility--a 140-unit assisted-living complex--nearing completion, the city will soon have about 2,200 units of designated senior housing for its 14,000 elderly, says Barry Curtis, a city planner. Of those, 1,500 units are considered “affordable” housing, which means they are priced for people who make up to 120% of the median county income.

The lack of housing for the elderly and disabled in Irvine is a lesson that Mayor Christina Shea says hit home for her this year. She has moved temporarily into an apartment building without elevators after selling her condo quicker than she expected. Elderly friends can’t visit her at home, Shea says.

She says she hopes to persuade her colleagues on the City Council next year to begin requiring elevators in new apartment buildings.

But a committee on accessible housing was shelved this year by the council after business leaders complained that the committee seemed bent on passing new mandates for builders.

Clarence Nedom, chairman of Irvine’s senior council, which advises the City Council on aging issues, says he believes the city’s leaders are just beginning to recognize the changes coming down the pike. “I think for a while, that didn’t bother them in the least,” he says. “Now I think they’re beginning to see what’s out there.”

Nedom says the first priority of the senior council is to increase transportation options for Irvine’s elderly. A popular door-to-door transport service has a waiting list several hundred names long. Nedom says he hopes the Orange County Transit Authority can be convinced to add an east-west bus route. “A senior can’t go from the Irvine Medical Center to City Hall in one run,” he says. “You’d have to go several different routes.”

As the city ages, it’s not just services for the elderly that might require a change of plans.

Consultants to the Irvine Unified School District were startled to discover that only about 35% of the city’s nearly 46,000 households have children in the public school system. That figure may have played a role in the district’s failure in November to win voter approval for a proposed parcel tax, a measure that fell four percentage points short of the required two-thirds majority.

“As an electorate ages, their needs change,” says Marice White of Nelson Communications, who organized the district’s parcel tax campaign. “A lot of 1/8elderly 3/8 people have the sense that we’ve put our children though the schools, we’ve done our duty. It’s time for someone else to give back. That was a common sentiment among older voters.”

But with the district badly in need of additional resources, school officials are contemplating reviving the measure. Councilman Dave Christensen says he is urging school board members to consider an exemption for seniors if they forge ahead with yet another campaign for the parcel tax.

Even though it’s only half built, at 28, Irvine is now one of the oldest new cities in Orange County. Many see its aging populace as the next logical stage in Irvine’s maturation. As the baby boomers reach retirement, other cities in the region are likely to experience similar spikes in their senior populations. Will they be ready?

“We’re planning for the future too,” says Mission Viejo City Manager Dan Joseph. “But this community really caters towards families, so we think maybe we won’t see the change in the community that some other 1/8cities 3/8 might have.”

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From Beige to Gray

In the next 20 years, city planners project the percentage of Irvine residents who are 55 and older will more than double.