IRVINE

Strawberries and artichokes still cover the fields, but in a few months agricultural production in Irvine’s Planning Area 17 will cease as the landscape is prepared for a future village. And Irvine Unified School District trustees are already envisioning where their new campus will sprout.

Situated south of the San Diego Freeway between Sand Canyon Avenue and Laguna Canyon Road, the new community remains unnamed. But city officials expect southern Irvine to become one of the city’s most densely populated areas, with plans for 2,375 homes with 1,017 students.

A 1996 agreement between the district and the Irvine Co., which owns the land, calls for the company to finance new schools. To do so, the company has proposed establishing a community facilities district for all of southern Irvine’s new villages. That includes Turtle Ridge, Shady Canyon and Planning Areas 17 and 18, said Mike Le Blanc, a senior vice president with the company.