University Hills, Irvine, California

University Hills is a community in southern Irvine, California, consisting of over 750 single-family homes and 140 rental units. Located on the campus of the University of California, Irvine, University Hills was built by the Irvine Campus Housing Authority as a place for faculty to find affordable, local housing; house prices are roughly 75% of what they would be in neighboring communities.

Geography

University Hills, as its name suggests, consists of a hill. University Hills rises from East Peltason Drive which forms its northern boundary at 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. University Hills is located on one of the northernmost and westernmost hills of the San Joaquin Hills.

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 apartments to faculty members for rent. Soon after the completion of Las Lomas, the Irvine Campus Housing Authority (ICHA) was created and began construction on University Hills proper. 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; an additional Phase 9 and a possible Phase 10 remain to be built. In addition, construction on Santiago Apartments, faculty and staff rental units on the northeast corner of University Hills, will be completed in summer 2007.

As University Hills grew in size, different types of houses became available. The very first houses, completed in 1986, included a mixture of townhomes and 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 square feet. As the community has grown, many amenities were added. These include Los Trancos Playground and Pool, located near the Las Lomas Apartments; 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.

treet 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.

Governing

University Hills is governed by the Irvine Campus Housing Authority (ICHA) Board and administered by the ICHA management. There is a Homeowners Representative Board (HRB) which acts as an advocate for residents' concerns, but whose only formal power is architectural review.

Community Center

Planning is under way for a University Hills community center to be located near the intersection of California Avenue and Gabrielino Drive. The first phase of construction, for which grading has already begun, will include permanent offices for the Irvine Campus Housing Authority as well as two rooms which will be available for community use. There are plans to follow the completion of the ICHA offices with a dedicated community center structure.

References

* [http://uhills.org/newslet/news.htm University Hills Newsletters] , which were used for the street names.
*The number of units in the community is listed on the web site of the [http://www.icha.uci.edu/contactus.htm Irvine Campus Housing Association] , the not-for-profit corporation that controls and develops the land in University Hills.
* [http://www.lib.uci.edu/ucihistory/index.php?page=architecture&function=university 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.
*" [http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/education/20060117-0224-ca-universityhousing.html 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.

ee also

*University of California, Irvine

External links

* [http://uhills.org/ University Hills Website]
* [http://www.icha.uci.edu/ ICHA Website]