Irvine Plans Meetings to Gather Opinions on Great Park Changes
With the proposed design of the Orange County Great Park completed, residents will have several chances in upcoming months to seek changes to the 4,700-acre project.
The Irvine City Council voted Tuesday to hold the public hearings required to change the city’s general plan and adjust commercial and residential zoning for the park.
Meetings have not yet been scheduled.
The Great Park will be built on the former El Toro Marine Corps Air Station.
Initial plans had called for 3,625 homes and 5.3 million square feet of commercial and industrial space.
Under the latest proposal, Lennar Corp. would build 9,500 homes and reduce the commercial space to 3.7 million square feet.
Lennar would also give Irvine 400 acres, increasing the open-space area to 1,747 acres.
The proposal, say Great Park Corp. officials, offers additional amenities, including a public golf course and clubhouse, a multicultural center and a center for nonprofit organizations.
In addition, Lennar would loan the city $200 million to help build some of the facilities before the city receives tax revenue from the park.
“Before, we asked if the original plan would allow us enough money to get the job done,” said Sukhee Kang, councilman and Great Park board president. “Now we have double the funds we need ... and without any burden on taxpayers.”
Because of the increased number of houses, tax revenues that could be used to build the park would jump from $672 million to $1.45 billion, said Irvine Mayor Beth Krom.
Krom said she favored the proposal as long as studies showed that it would not increase traffic.
“We are creating with no tax increases ... the first great metropolitan park of the 21st century,” Krom said.
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