The Irvine Co. is proposing 1,960 apartments on Sand Canyon Avenue near I-5.

The Irvine City Council voted 3-2 last week to begin reviewing the plans and processing Irvine Co.'s application, the Orange County Register reports.

Some local residents and council members oppose the plan, citing traffic concerns.

The Irvine Co. is proposing as many as 1,710 apartments, a 25K SF shopping center and a five-acre park on the former Traveland USA site off the I-5 freeway, and up to 250 apartments, a 1.7-acre park and a 10K SF child care center on vacant land at Sand Canyon Avenue and Great Park Boulevard.

The proposal includes up to 530K SF of nonresidential uses, including possibly a small warehouse on what is now vacant land.

A complication could stem from existing county plans to build another project across the freeway near Orange County Great Park. That development, with 2,103 housing units, 220K SF of commercial space and a 242-room hotel, could create its own traffic problems even without the addition of the Irvine Co.'s project.

The city council is expected to vote on the Irvine Co. project early next year.

If it is approved, it could take up to seven years to build.