High school might come to Great Park
IRVINE — A high school may replace a planned residential project in the Great Park by 2017, according to city documents.
Council members agreed to consider relocating an approved 40-acre high school from Irvine Boulevard, about half a mile from the James A. Musick Jail, to within a 69-acre parcel of the Great Park near Trabuco Road.
As it stands now, the 69-acre parcel is slated to become a 429-unit residential project and community park by developer Heritage Fields, according to city staff reports.
However, an agreement between the developer and the Irvine Unified School District allows for consideration of other sites for the planned school. The move would require the developer to work with the city to relocate the residential project to city property and eventually provide compensation for the land.
Council members were favorable to the idea, with Councilman Steven Choi voicing the lone dissent with concerns over traffic and impact on future build out of the area.
“[With the] selection of this high school in Irvine, we are actually building the final phase of our community, so this is going to be a destination for an excellence of education we always pursue in Irvine,” Mayor Sukhee Kang said while the council discussed the report at the Jan. 10 council meeting.
The alternative proposed site would be adjacent to the Great Park sports sector, a prospect which garnered further favor from Councilman Larry Agran.
“It presents an opportunity for joint-use sports facilities that would be of tremendous benefit to the entire community, to the Great Park, to the city at large and, of course, to the school community,” Agran said.
He cited the possibilities of having football, soccer or baseball fields, a gym or an aquatics complex.
In other council business, Beth Krom was selected for a second term as the mayor pro tem, in a 3-2 vote.
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