Photo Credit: Courtesy of Great Park Design Studio
Redeveloping a World War II-era military base into a 21^(st)-century metropolitan park is no easy task. But after three years of planning, the Great Park Corporation Board approved in May the first major development of the Orange County Great Park in Irvine, Calif. Considered a large step forward, it will move the park toward its goal of being one of the largest metropolitan parks created in the United States in the past 100 years.
The 1,347-acre park is being developed by the city and its Great Park Corporation on the site of the former 4,700-acre El Toro Marine Corps Air Station. The 57-year-old base--once America’s sentinel on the West Coast and home to generations of Marine Corps airmen--was closed in 1999 as part of the Defense Department’s Base Closure and Realignment process.
Encompassing 500 acres on the park’s western edge, the development plan is estimated to cost $61.16 million, and preliminary construction could begin this year. The work will include moving 2.6-million cubic yards of soil within the park boundaries, and removing 185,000 cubic yards of runway to create distinct park districts that are part of the overall master plan.