A Not-So-Great Park Gets OK From Irvine

By City News Service

The Irvine City Council on Wednesday tentatively approved a plan that dramatically changes the Orange County Great Park vision from a West Coast version of Manhattan's Central Park to something more closely resembling one of the city's master-planned communities with a golf course and thousands of homes.

The 3-2 vote, with Beth Krom and Larry Agran dissenting, came in the early morning hours, culminating a meeting that began Tuesday afternoon. The council will take a final vote on the proposal Dec. 10.

"It was a historic moment for the people of Orange County," Mayor Steven Choi said. "I am so excited and happy that the citizens of Orange County will realize a park in their lifetimes."

More than half of the Great Park property will be developed with homes surrounded by the golf course, a sports park, a wooded area and a canyon.

That still leaves the other half of the park to more closely resemble the vision of New York landscape architect Ken Smith, who envisioned a Southern California version of New York's Central Park, said Councilman Jeff Lalloway, who cast the swing vote.

"I respect Ken Smith's vision, and I respect Beth Krom's vision," Lalloway said, referring to the councilwoman's advocacy of Smith's plan. "Unfortunately, the elimination of redevelopment agencies hurt our ability to go forward and finance that vision, but I still think we will be able to keep to the general overall feel of the master plan."

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However, Krom said FivePoint Communities' project would end the vision she and Agran had for a public space like Central Park.

FivePoint's project "eviscerates" the original Great Park plan, Krom said.

"There's no constituency clamoring for another golf course and this sports park they're proposing is largely designed for commercial tournaments," Krom said.

Krom also doubts the golf course can coexist with the more passive uses of the park like hiking trails.

"Hiking and golf courses do not seem to be a good or compatible use," she said.

Krom also said she was concerned that the plan includes a high school near a toxic site and the nearby James A. Musick jail.

"Why would you build what is going to be a quarter-billion-dollar high school next to a capped landfill and 1,000 yards from the jail," Krom said.

Krom and other activists helped defeat plans for an airport on the former site of the Marine Corps Air Station El Toro, paving the way for the Great Park plan that fizzled when funding for the project through residential development by the Lennar company faded, along with the economy, in 2008.

Another potential $1.4 billion over the life of the project, which would have come from redevelopment funds, dried up when the state eliminated redevelopment agencies last year.

Choi ripped his predecessors on the park board and the City Council for "wasteful spending" over the years.

Choi said when he took office at the start of the year it was a "top priority" to kick-start negotiations with the developer.

FivePoint's plan includes 688 acres of parkland with a 188-acre golf course and 176-acre sports park. The developer, in exchange, would get to build 4,606 homes on the park's perimeter.

The city would receive $10 million from the developer to be used for the maintenance of the park, Lalloway said, to help tide the city over until impact fees and other funding kicks in.

A key concession won by city staff and Lalloway could be worth millions of dollars in savings to the city, he said. If the developer comes across any hazardous materials in the soil, for instance, the city would not have to pay the cost of cleaning it upfront, which could cost up to $150 million, Lalloway said.

Another key concession won by Lalloway early Wednesday will allow the city to take control of the parklands as soon as the developer's finished.

"That is the exact model used almost every day in Irvine and will continue at the Great Park," Lalloway said.

The developer had wanted to maintain control of the parklands until at least 2023.

Some critics have derided the Great Park's slow progress, but Krom said there is no urgency to develop the land. New York's Central Park dates to the Civil War era but wasn't completed until the 1930s, Krom noted.

Lalloway said he has vowed to accelerate the park's development.

"I promised the voters I would do everything I could to get the Great Park started," Lalloway said.

"The first thing the new majority did was we changed from a focus on programming to building permanent amenities that can always be used, so that at any time I could take my daughters out there and do something. That, I think, is the critical difference."

Lalloway emphasized that the city will be collaborating with the developer on the park's plans.

"The city will hold hearings on the design that has been presented to us," he said. "We can change almost anything in it with the consent of FivePoint and some things we can change without their consent."

The sports park is expected to include two dozen soccer fields, some with lighting to extend playing time in the winter, about 15 tennis courts, 11 sand volleyball courses and a golf course that could host a PGA Tour event, Lalloway said.