1 Great Park for Irvine, 7 Elaborate Possibilities

The ideas came from as far as Spain and as close as Disneyland: seven ambitious proposals to transform a deserted patchwork of runways and hangars into something like New York’s Central Park, smack in the middle of Orange County.

The city of Irvine has embarked on a massive planning effort for the Orange County Great Park, a roughly 1,000-acre regional preserve with museums and sports fields to be built in the center of the former El Toro Marine base and surrounded by about 3,400 new homes.

The proposals, from seven internationally known design firms, are as grand as the city’s planners hope the park will be. One features a monorail to move visitors around the 2-square-mile park, with a long canal for rowing and canoeing. Another envisions a terraced knoll at the center built around a large lake.

“This is our last opportunity in Orange County to really create a place that can bring us together,” said private land planner Don Bauer, among a group of 14 Orange County designers, planners and architects who converged on Irvine this week to critique the proposals.

The public can see the designs at Irvine City Hall through Sept. 21, then attend public presentations Sept. 22 and 23. People will also be able to vote for their favorite park features on the Internet.

So far, planning for the Great Park has been conducted in relative obscurity compared with the intense scrutiny given the proposed international airport that was killed by voters in 2002. A winning designer will probably be selected this month.

The Great Park planning board gave the designers $50,000 each -- and a blank slate -- to develop their proposals. They were given free rein to think creatively, without worrying about cost, traffic, water or lingering contamination from 50 years of military use, said Glen Worthington, Irvine’s former principal planner, who now works for the Great Park Corp.

“I don’t know that we told them they should be limited,” Worthington said of the designers. “We didn’t want them to worry about ‘What’s the budget?’ ”

The designers came back with elaborate ideas, including a “fog forest,” marshlands and hot-air balloon rides to sports fields.

* Madrid-based Abalos & Herreros dreamed up a 10,000-foot rowing canal along an old runway, an amphitheater that faces the sunset, four observation points and an elevated monorail looping around the park. The group also threw in a solar field to generate energy.

* EMBT Arquitectes Associates, based in Barcelona, proposed a huge lake with a wooden boardwalk, as well as a sports and museum complex.

* Richard Haag & Associates of Seattle drew up plans with a lake centered amid a terraced “great knoll,” a lake-facing amphitheater, and pedestrian and bike paths. High-density housing is also in the plan.

* In a nod to the former Marine base, the San Francisco firm Hargreaves Associates proposed a veterans memorial and sports fields as well as one “great lake,” but also with a series of smaller lakes and canals throughout the park.

* Philadelphia-based Olin Partnership proposed a circular park with a lake and marshland in the middle surrounded by four elevated dikes leading toward the center.

* Royston Hanamoto Alley & Abey of Mill Valley, Calif., proposed a reflecting pond and promenade. Four former hangars would be converted into a museum district and cultural center. The park would also have tree-lined gateways, a geyser, a “fog forest” and an “air terrace” for kite flying.

* Ken Smith Architects of New York drafted a plan with “Bee Creek” wetlands and triangular lakes in a “reptile” pattern, hot-air balloon rides, an amphitheater and partly buried buildings.

Despite the varied proposals, marketing consultant Linda Congleton, one member of the group critiquing them, fretted that few of the designs offered activities, landscaping or attractions that were truly different from Southern California’s other recreational draws. “I don’t see any big ‘wows’ yet,” she said.

On Monday, the group lauded some designs and lamented others during its three-hour review.

In the group were influential planners who have shaped the look of Orange County over the last 30 years: Jack Camp of Laguna Beach, who designed the Irvine Spectrum; architect Leason Pomeroy, who designed the John Wayne Airport terminal; former Disney “Imagineer” Tom Holtom; and former Irvine Co. executive Tom Nielsen.

They worried that the board was moving too fast to pick a designer without knowing key elements of the future park, including how much it would cost and its annual operating budget.

The group critiqued each design with a “reality factor.” For example, most featured water that might have to be lined to protect ground water. Many directed cars into the park off busy Bake Parkway, yet only a few indicated parking areas. The monorail would require stations staffed by at least two employees each, greatly increasing the park’s operating cost.

The park’s museum district, to be built with private funds, also hasn’t attracted a major “anchor,” such as the Smithsonian or Guggenheim organizations, which group members said was critical for its success.

Only one proposal, from Royston Hanamoto Alley & Abey, provided an estimated construction cost: $750 million.

It is unclear how much the others would cost and how much the city would be willing to spend. Irvine is counting on using property tax revenue and about $200 million in fees from Lennar Corp., which bought 3,700 acres of the base from the federal government in summer. That includes the parkland, which Lennar gave the city as part of the deal. Lennar will build homes, businesses and a golf course on the rest of the land.

Despite their concerns, those critiquing the proposals were enthusiastic about the prospect of building a unique public park in the heart of Orange County, and many praised certain design elements.

“We don’t have an agenda here other than using our combined expertise to help the board make the best decision,” Camp said.