TUSTIN : City Hires Firm for Park Designs

The City Council this week hired a consultant to prepare architectural and landscape designs for a proposed 20-acre sports park at Jamboree Road and Robinson Drive in the Tustin Ranch area.

Anthony & Langford, a Huntington Beach-based engineering and architectural firm, will also prepare the documents inviting contractors to bid on the $3.5-million project.

The city will pay Anthony & Langford $210,000 to prepare what are technically called “working drawings” and “bid documents,” which are expected to be completed in June.

Once completed, the sports park will be the largest among the city’s 10 parks, according to recreation supervisor Randy Westrick. He said construction is scheduled to start in August.

Westrick said that the final plans have yet to be approved by the City Council but that there is already consensus to pick one of the five tentative plans submitted by Anthony & Langford, which was also hired to develop the so-called master plan for the sports park.

The plan, approved in concept, will feature three lighted softball fields, four to six lighted tennis courts, two unlighted basketball courts and two soccer fields. The park will also have storage and restroom facilities, a children’s play area, a picnic area and parking for 200 cars.

Westrick said the council is expected to approve the master plan on March 15. Ordinarily, the working drawings and bid documents are done after the master plan has been approved. But by authorizing the drawings, the council has indicated it will approve the plan, Westrick said.

“Typically, when the master plan is adopted, you negotiate a contract for working drawings with a designer and then get back to the council for approval,” Westrick said. “The process takes about two months. We want to expedite it whenever we can.”

Westrick said the city wants to finish the construction as soon as possible. “We can hit the ground running when the council adopts the master plan in March,” he said.

With a population of more than 50,000, Tustin is still short of a state mandate of three park acres per 1,000 residents. Right now, the city has one acre per 1,000 residents, Westrick said.

Construction is expected to take six months. By the middle of 1994, Westrick said, he expects people to be able to use the park. “It’s in the Tustin Ranch area, but it’s for the use of everyone in Tustin,” he said.

Sports Park 20 acres proposed for sports fields and courts