Mayor Agran’s Blueprint for Irvine’s Future

Mayor Larry Agran delivered the 2025 State of the City Address before a packed audience in the Council Chamber Tuesday, March 11th. Photo credit city of Irvine

Irvine Mayor Larry Agran delivered his State of the City address with a vision of making Irvine the safest, smartest, greenest, healthiest, and kindest city in America. The speech highlighted major initiatives aimed at public safety, sustainability, and community well-being while reinforcing the promises he made during his mayoral campaign.

In a Zoom interview a few days after the address, he discussed the many plans outlined during his speech. The conversation started where his address did, with safety. Agran focused on Irvine’s dedication to public safety and its ongoing efforts to improve emergency preparedness as well as crime prevention. He said the city’s response to natural disasters need to be updated.

“Wildfires are our biggest concern,” Agran said. “We need to develop similar evacuation plans for the southern end of the city, too.” He stressed the importance of wildfire prevention through brush clearance and strategic planning. While Irvine has strong flood control policies, Agran noted that earthquake preparedness needs attention. “We are overdue for a major seismic event,” he warned.

Agran also discussed e-bike regulation. In his speech, he said e-bikes needed better regulation. In the follow up interview, he revealed a forthcoming city ordinance that would categorize e-bikes like motorcycles.

“We aren’t waiting for the state to do the right thing—we're going to do the right thing ourselves,” he said, emphasizing that Irvine’s approach will include licensing, enforcement, and age restrictions. Although he intends to require e-bike riders to be at least sixteen years old, he is considering allowing current riders to be grandfathered in for now. Agran estimates that the new regulations will be implemented by the end of 2025.

Regarding drowning prevention, Agran has a two-pronged approach: encouraging non-swimmers to wear life vests and strengthening pool fencing requirements in backyard pools. Agran said both initiatives will likely begin soon.

In his address, Agran announced that the city’s workforce is the best in the entire United States and described the ethos of city employees as “competence, not chaos, and compassion, not cruelty.”

He announced the construction of two new libraries in the city—one in the Great Park and another in the former Barnes & Noble building in the Woodbridge Village Shopping Center. Existing libraries will also receive renovations, including new carpeting, paint, and building maintenance.

All of this growth and improvement is due to Irvine leaving the Orange County public library system.

“We've been underserved and disregarded, even though we’ve put in a lot more money as county taxpayers than we’ve gotten back in services,” Agran said, adding that for every $15 million the city invested in the system, it received only $5 million back in services.

After announcing a $100,000 scholarship fund for students attending Irvine Valley College, Agran transitioned to the environment. He reaffirmed Irvine’s commitment to sustainability, particularly tree planting.

“We need to act,” he said, citing a Chinese proverb: “The best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago, but the second-best time is now.” The Great Park will see 20,000 new trees planted within the next couple of years at a cost of $5 to $10 million. While he acknowledges that trees will require ongoing maintenance, Agran emphasized that the beauty, cooler temperatures, and cleaner air an urban forest provides will far outweigh the costs.

Agran detailed efforts to boost residential and commercial solar adoption through a $50 million fund for rebates and incentives.

“If we ramp up the system in a big way, we could do as many as 5,000 installations per year,” he said, noting the importance of battery storage in reducing dependence on fossil fuels. Agran envisions a centralized office in City Hall where residents can receive support for installing solar panels and battery storage.

Agran’s plan for the future of Irvine includes an emphasis on public health. He announced the establishment of an Office for Health and Wellness, which will work to centralize medical and supportive services for residents.

“The idea is to bring together all the remarkable health and medical resources we have in Irvine and really build a health and wellness network with wraparound services for those in need,” Agran explained. “It’s a huge undertaking.”

Agran announced that Hoag will donate tens of millions of dollars to build a location in Heritage Park to house nonprofits focused on supportive services. The project, modeled on the Melinda Hoag Smith Center for Healthy Living in Newport Beach, will bring together a wide range of resources for Irvinites under one roof.

Among other priorities, Agran is calling for an new era of kindness.

“We should speak kindly to each other, even when we disagree,” he said during his address. “Maybe especially when we disagree.”

He stated that government institutions and businesses must also embrace kindness. As an example of the city’s commitment to kindness, he announced a new food security and nutrition plan. Agran said land would be developed to grow food and he would work with Orange County food banks like Second Harvest to increase food access for residents. His goal is for Irvine to become 100% food and nutrition secure.

Agran’s vision for kindness extends to affordable housing. In his address, he stated that Irvine already leads Orange County with 5,000 affordable units. The Irvine Company has agreed to build 2,750 new affordable units in the next few years, but the city’s goal is 10,000 total affordable units. Agran believes an alternative approach could help achieve this goal: utilizing existing housing.

Agran hopes the Irvine Company will collaborate with the city to address the shortage of affordable housing by repricing several existing units for low- and middle-income Irvinites. He noted that the Irvine Company has already agreed to reprice dozens of units before negotiations have even begun.

Referring to kindness in his address, Agran quipped, “I don’t think that’s a moniker the Irvine Company has exploited before, has it? Well, you’ll be able to do it now.”

Agran clarified that the plan is not meant to artificially suppress housing costs indefinitely. The affordable rates will only last until renters can afford to pay more.

“A working family struggling to afford Irvine’s market rates—say, $4,000 a month for a two- or three-bedroom apartment—could see that rent reduced to $2,000 or even $1,500,” Agran explained. “Over time, as the family earns more, their rent would gradually increase, with the goal of reaching market rate within about five years. This way, people aren’t in subsidized housing indefinitely; they transition out as their financial situation improves.”

Mayor Agran’s address painted a picture of a city determined to be safe, smart, green, healthy, and kind. While his vision is ambitious, it closely adheres to the priorities he campaigned on in his 2024 election for mayor.

“Some of us," Agran affirmed, "are quite intent on doing what we said we would do.”

Watch the Mayor’s 2025 State of the City address here.