Construction Updates

Wester Sector Park Development
Phase One (2010–2012)
The $65.5 million Western Sector Park Development Plan encompasses more than 200 acres of the Orange County Great Park. The plan is designed to build park space that is diverse in use and appropriate to the funds available, resulting in more than 100 acres of active park space. The project is expected to be complete in 2012, with park features being opened as they are completed. The project builds on the current park space, which will continue to be open and active with events and programming throughout construction.

The Western Sector Park Development Plan, Phase One includes the following:

• Kids Rock interpretive playground
• Great Park Carousel installation
• The Palm Court & Squadron Complex for special events, exhibitions, and artist studios
• South Lawn with three lighted soccer fields
• North Lawn with a multi-purpose recreation field
• Fully landscaped 9-acre Walkable Timeline and bike trail
• Hangar 244 renovation, as well as a Promenade Entry and parking enhancements.
• 1.5-acre Community Garden
• Enhancements to the Farm & Food Lab and an Agricultural Pavilion
• 14-acre Picnic Meadow
• 100-acre Great Park Farm
• Improvements to C Street, including a new orange grove border
• Additional access and infrastructure improvements, including shade structures, trees, pedestrian and bicycle access, utilities, water recycling facilities, and additional lighting and parking.
• Projects already completed at the Great Park include the Great Park Balloon and Balloon Park, Farm & Food Lab, Kids Rock, Community Farm, and infrastructure projects critical to park development.

Source: OCGP Corporation

Current Project: North Lawn Construction

The next project planned for construction is the Palm Court & Squadron Complex, a unique space that will be the home for the arts at the Great Park, including an outdoor palm-lined court suitable for outdoor performances, art shows and book fairs. The Palm Court ties together two former aviation support buildings, which will be transformed into an arts gallery and artists’ studios. (Updated November 2010)

Source: OCGP Corporation

The Orange County Great Park will be built on the land that was formerly the El Toro Marine Corps Air Station. In early 2005, the Department of the Navy sold the land at the Marine Base, which covered six square miles, through an auction process. The winning bidder for the entire property was nationally respected land developer, Lennar. Later in 2005, Lennar signed a development agreement with the City of Irvine that transferred 1,316 acres of land back to public ownership—this is the land that will be transformed into the Orange County Great Park. Lennar will develop the remaining land around the Great Park into the Great Park Neighborhoods.

The park design focuses on several opportunities to develop different kinds of connections:

• Ecologically, the park is a vital link in the chain of land reserves stretching from the mountains to the sea. It ties into existing land reserves and makes critical connections linking together critical ecologic systems and water reserves in this part of the county.

• Socially, the park will connect to the communities for all residents of the county. The park will knit together riding, hiking and multiuse trails from all parts of the county, completing an existing bicycle network within the county, linking all neighborhoods to the park and communities beyond.

• Culturally, the park connects and celebrates the sense of history here – what came before us. The fields, the timeline, and the memorial deal with remembering the history of the site.

The Great Park is a showplace of sustainability, demonstrating new ideas, structures, systems, and technologies. To help the park succeed in its goal of creating new balance between meeting human needs and promoting environmental health, it is necessary to understand the consequences of our actions and the effectiveness of potential solutions. To accomplish this goal, the park embraces and implements a set of sustainability indicators that will be tracked by a series of performance standards. Sustainability will be measured in five major categories.

• Energy = Conservation and on-site generation

• Water – Conservation, recycling in natural treatment wetlands, and capturing runoff

• Materials – Salvaged, recycled, ecologically engineered, and waste neutral

• Nature – Restored native habitats, enhanced biodiversity, ad ecological connections

• People – Activities and experiences that foster physical, social and cultural well-being

The Master Plan incorporates twelve Sustainability Goals. These goals include biodiversity, connection to nature, land sustainability, air quality, water, well being, energy, materials, inclusion, heritage, transit, and monitoring. Sustainability is about improving the quality of life for individuals, strengthening communities, and making the world a healthier place.

Click here to read about the “Sustainability Goals for the Great Park.”