This article describes in a chronological format the planning process that the Irvine Company of Newport Beach, California, undertook to prepare a plan for 10,000 acres of land with71/2miles of beach in Orange County, California. The process has taken seven years and has parallelled the evolution of state coastal planning in California, which began in 1972. The planning process is divided into a series of phases (sections in the article), each of which is analyzed for lessons that could be used to improve the adoption of future public policies and regulations. The article describes, for example, the Irvine Company's response to public participation procedures, the use of environmental data, the integration of divergent policies from many public agencies, the effects of change over time and expresses concern about the impact that intergovernmental procedures may have on integrated and site‐specific land‐use plans.