Helping lead one of the country’s largest master-planned cities and one of Orange County’s largest cities could ask for nimble-decision making of Irvine‘s next mayor.
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Coming up, Irvine’s electeds will see the rounding out of the city’s decades-old master plan — it has served as a guiding hand for building — that could leave new room for creative decisions around housing and development going forward. And, the next two-year term includes some milestones for the Great Park and could build on the area’s recent momentum as an entertainment destination.
Incumbent Larry Agran is facing a challenge to reelection from newcomer Max Egorov, a software engineer.
Both mayoral candidates, who were interviewed and provided written answers to questions, said Irvine should have “flexibility” from state housing mandates, with Agran saying the city must “provide for additional affordable housing while maintaining support for our City Master Plan.”
Several final-stretch projects, such as the 70-acre Gateway Village at the former All American Asphalt site and the under-construction Great Park Neighborhoods will add thousands of units to the city. But with those projects being among Irvine’s last master-planned communities, the city’s been pivoting to infill projects, such as considering housing atop the Oak Creek Golf Course.
New housing should “be responsible and supported by adequate roads, schools, public safety, parks, and other services” and be “planned in appropriate locations while protecting existing neighborhoods and Irvine’s quality of life,” Egorov said.
Egorov emigrated from Russia and settled in Irvine in 2016, getting his start in local politics by attending City Council meetings and advocating for open space around the city, he said, including by voicing opposition to the proposed Oak Creek housing development that’s currently undergoing an environmental impact report.
“My own experience with the open-space debate showed me how important transparency is,” Egorov said. “I worked with residents who asked questions, submitted public records requests, and sought clearer information from the city. That experience is one of the reasons I became more involved in local government and decided to run for mayor.”
Egorov was part of a community group that pursued putting on the ballot a measure to reaffirm a 1988 voter-initiative protecting open space. The measure would have required voter approval for any developments on land deemed “open space.”
“It needs to be brought up before the people and people need to vote on this,” Egorov said of the Oak Creek housing proposal. “Our council members promised us to get a ballot measure before the voters, but at this time we don’t have it.”
Agran, who has served on the Irvine City Council on and off for the better part of five decades, including as mayor in 1988 when the voter-initiative was approved, agrees the Oak Creek development should go before voters.
“I want to do that. I think the law requires it,” Agran said. “We have to have some kind of voter approval, because it is changing our open space plan to permit development. There’s some divided opinion on that, as a lawyer and somebody who remembers all the expressed intent at the time, I think it requires a vote of the people.”
“One of the big concerns is traffic in the city,” Agran said of the challenges Irvine faces. “We now have to come to terms with a failing in the master plan process. From day one, we should have required, associated with every development, that a transit project be part of the planning process.”
Agran envisions “non-polluting shuttle-buses” unclogging the city’s traffic arteries and proposes expanding the free Irvine CONNECT shuttle system that launched in 2024, including by adding stops at the Great Park.
“I’m very committed to expanding and extending that system throughout the city,” Agran said.
“I have served as an Irvine city councilmember and also as mayor of Irvine throughout challenging periods of growth and development. Under my leadership, Irvine has become America’s most diverse and thoroughly integrated city,” Agran said. And in “in seeking re-election, I have pledged to continue to lead our city — to make Irvine the safest, smartest, greenest, healthiest…and kindest city in America.”
Egorov said he “would make myself accessible to residents and listen to people from every part of Irvine before making major decisions.” He believes, he said, that local government “should be transparent, responsive, and open to different perspectives.”
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The next two-year term could see some phased completion of the Great Park, including the Flying Leatherneck Aviation Museum that’s part of the Cultural Terrace. And the park’s recent successes in positioning itself as an entertainment destination — a new minor league baseball team in town and visits by the U.S. Men’s Soccer Team for the World Cup and artist Olivia Rodrigo for her sold-out Daisy Chain Fields Festival — could influence some pivotal decisions on next projects.
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“A music festival is very different from an amphitheater, which is what we were talking about before,” Agran said, referring to the permanent, mid-sized amphitheater that’s long been eyed by the city but yet to be built (the temporary Great Park Live has been hosting performances the last few years). City officials have said they are in conversations for another large-scale festival by Rodrigo for next year.
“And now, I think this gives us an opportunity to kind of reimagine how we might evolve over the course of the next 10 years or so,” Agran said.
Pivotal to both candidates’ campaigns is how they imagine a parcel of land at the northern edge of the Great Park being used.
Agran has long tried to garner support for a 20- to 30-acre veterans cemetery, which he has said is required by law per the land’s zoning, but is now proposing a “wall of honor that could accommodate cremains, not in-ground burial,” he said.
“And the names on the wall, I believe, should be of anybody who was associated with the military, its history, whether here in OC or elsewhere, because after all, this is a former Marine Corps air station,” Agran said.
Egorov said he supports a veterans’ “memorial,” adding that the prospect of a cemetery being built was “among the biggest concerns” he’s heard from nearby Great Park residents.
“I want to respect the residents. I grew up near a cemetery. For me, it’s OK,” Egorov said. “But people who come from other places all over the world, they cannot tolerate a cemetery that’s next to their houses. And as a council, we have to respect that.”
City leaders for the past several months have been debating how to handle a 2% budget shortfall, or about 6 million in city spending. City staffers have called the sum a “drop in the bucket” in light of Irvine’s reserves, but said the shortfall, if unaddressed, could eventually dent city coffers.
“I am concerned about Irvine’s current budget deficit and projections showing that the gap between revenues and expenses could continue to grow,” Egorov said. “The city needs to get spending under control and make sure recurring expenses are supported by recurring revenues. Public safety, road maintenance, and other essential services should remain priorities.”
“The city should also meet its long-term obligations, including pension liabilities, while maintaining adequate reserves for emergencies and economic downturns.”
To address the shortfall, Egorov said he’d review “non-essential and lower-priority spending,” postpone projects when necessary, and he “will not support increasing taxes or fees.” He would also support cutting the mayor’s office by half and “encourage every city council member to do the same,” he said.
The mayor’s office is allocated $350,000 and each councilmember is allocated $325,000 for support staff salaries, according to the city.
Agran said “it’s imperative that the business sector pay its fair share to make sure that the residential sector isn’t unduly burdened,” adding, “Our fee structures need to be adjusted from time to time to ensure full cost-recovery wherever possible.”
“Successfully balancing our annual operations budget is a constant challenge, requiring vigilance regarding new spending while also finding more efficient and productive ways of delivering core municipal services,” Agran said.
Ballots for the November election started arriving in mailboxes earlier this week and may be returned by mail and in the OC Registrar of Voters’ drop boxes around town now. Vote centers will start opening in phases on Oct. 24.
The mayor of Irvine is paid an annual stipend of $10,560, plus costs for auto allowance, insurance premiums and pension costs, according to 2025 city data.
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