http://www.ocregister.com/articles/park-533662-fivepoint-plan.html
Developer gives more details as Great Park plan advances
As a proposal from FivePoint Communities to spend $174 million to develop several hundred acres of Great Park land into sports fields, trails, wilderness areas and a golf course advances to a potential Nov. 12 City Council vote, the developer faced council members in their other roles Tuesday afternoon – as the Great Park board of directors.
“It’s time we built the park,” said Councilwoman Christina Shea, the board’s vice chairwoman, calling FivePoint’s proposal “outstanding” and consistent with the park’s original master plan designed by New York landscape architect Ken Smith, “except for the canyon that I never liked.”
The original master plan contemplated a 30-foot-deep canyon cutting through the park diagonally, a feature beloved by some and derided by others.
Councilman and board member Larry Agran, a fan of the canyon that would have partly been where FivePoint has proposed building a golf course, called the proposal an “evisceration” of Smith’s original design and asked why, if FivePoint wanted a golf course so much, did it not want to build one on its own land surrounding the park.
Brian Myers, the representative for FivePoint Communities who has made the public presentations on the proposal, said that a future council could decide to uproot the golf course after FivePoint is done overseeing it in 2023 and replace it with a canyon or anything it wants. And as for whether it’s on parkland or FivePoint land, Myers said that inside the park, it represents pure revenue to cover park operations – something a city negotiating subcommittee earlier had asked FivePoint to assure.
FivePoint has offered to build several hundred acres of parkland in exchange for being allowed to build up to 4,606 homes east of the park’s boundary.
The special meeting at City Hall didn’t involve voting for or against the plan but offered the board members – four of them because Mayor Steven Choi is traveling in South Korea and Taiwan – the chance to see a more detailed version of what the developer has proposed and ask questions. In some cases, answers were demanded in writing.
Since a unanimous City Council on Sept. 10 gave the developer the go-ahead to negotiate a deal directly with the city, FivePoint representatives have attended about 25 meetings, including two study sessions and a public Planning Commission hearing.
Elements of the plan have been tweaked slightly in that time. A proposed clubhouse and banquet hall for the golf course had been positioned at the end of Trabuco Road inside the park. It’s since been moved farther east, on the other side of the golf course. The golf course also includes more trails integrated throughout.
“Won’t we be hit by golf balls?” asked Irvine resident Harvey Liss, who also was concerned about control of park features if the plan was approved.
The number of sports fields also had changed slightly. There are still 24 tennis courts and 12 ball fields but now there are 18-21 multiuse fields (not counting several already at the park) that could be used for soccer, cricket, lacrosse, rugby, football and more plus an open field, 11 sand volleyball courts and 12 other sport courts.
Agran and Councilwoman Beth Krom questioned the new proposal’s divergence from the original master plan. Krom, in particular, wanted to know the reason for the large number of sports facilities akin to sports complexes that have been developed in Bakersfield and Overland Park, Kan.
Board Chairman Jeff Lalloway disputed the idea that the master plan would be destroyed if FivePoint’s plan was adopted.
“No master plan is sacred,” he said.
Contact the writer: 949-864-6371 or kpierceall@ocregister.com
