Landscape Architect Articles

A Living Landscape Laboratory03-04-10 | News

A Living Landscape Laboratory

By Christine Rombouts

The public has played a major role in designing the Great Park in central Orange County, Calif. During the creation of the master plan, intensive outreach efforts were undertaken with various stakeholder groups, including residents, community leaders and officials, veterans, environmental organizations, sports enthusiasts, artists, and even a garden for Tai Chi. Images courtesy of the Orange Country Great Park

The Orange County Great Park is a significant economic energizer. A potentially powerful stimulus, it can provide a much needed lift to several segments of the regional economy from building to professional services to retail, according to Economic Research Associates, a leading economic research firm.

The ERA study reports that planning, construction and other activity associated with designing and building the Great Park, along with adjacent residential and commercial development, could add hundreds of millions of dollars to Southern California?EUR??,,????'?????<

Visitors to the Great Park today can get a first-hand view of the park site and surrounding communities via the huge, Great Park Balloon tethered within the park that gives visitors a bird?EUR??,,????'?????<

Transforming a Sterile Landscape

The Orange County Great Park is a 21st century laboratory of urban development, smart growth and sustainability. Located in Orange County, California, the park is being developed by the City of Irvine on the former Marine Corps Air Station El Toro, a 4,700-acre decommissioned military base closed in 1999 as part of the Department of Defense Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) process. Irvine annexed the base property in January 2004. Transforming the sterile expanse of a former Marine airbase into a living landscape is fundamental to the city?EUR??,,????'?????<

Several base buildings are being preserved and reused as a part of the park, and many special military base features are being salvaged for memorial purposes.

Restructuring Land Use

On February 16, 2005, Marine Corps Air Station El Toro was sold in its entirety via an online auction conducted by the Department of Defense to the Lennar Corporation in the most successful base auction to date
($649.5 million).

The Great Park will be one of the largest metropolitan parks created in the United States in the past 100 years. Estimated to cost $1.4 billion at completion, the park is also one of the largest public/private sustainable projects underway in the U. S. At 1,347 acres (5.45 km2), the Great Park will be larger than New York?EUR??,,????'?????<

Large slabs of concrete from the demolished runways, dubbed ?EUR??,,????'?????<

A Confluence of Talent and Community

The Great Park will truly be a park for everyone, reflecting the interests, values, cultures, and social and ethnic backgrounds of Southern California residents from all walks of life. The Great Park?EUR??,,????'?????<

The Great Park has also adopted numerous strategies that will reduce the use of fossil fuel for site, building and transportation energy uses. Strategies to achieve these goals include renewable energy generation, implementation of energy efficient technologies, public education, and demand reduction in the park?EUR??,,????'?????<

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Marine Corps Air Station El Toro opened in 1942 and served as a West Coast base for Pacific operations for servicemen and servicewomen in World War II, the Korean War and Vietnam War until it closed in 1999. The sale of El Toro created a public/private partnership between the federal government, the City of Irvine, and Lennar Corporation. As part of the transaction, the Navy agreed to clean up the environmental pollution left by more than 55 years of military operations.

After more than three years of comprehensive planning coupled with extensive stakeholder input, the Great Park design reached an important milestone in November 2009, with the approval by the Irvine City Council of major construction totaling $65.5 million. The construction on the park?EUR??,,????'?????<

Putting Every Resource to Good use

The removal of more than 600 acres of hard pavement and the demolition of 120 buildings at the Great Park will be part of the construction phase of park development. These materials are recycled at a recycling center located adjacent to the park. Organic building materials such as drywall and wood are used as soil amendment, while other components, such as redwood beams, are used in new construction. Several base buildings are being preserved and reused as a part of the park, and many special military base features are being salvaged for memorial purposes.

The park?EUR??,,????'?????<

Sustainability is a key component of the Great Park?EUR??,,????'?????<

Twelve Sustainability Objectives

These objectives have been developed to serve as a guide in the design and operation of the Orange County Great Park.
1. Biodiversity: Provide ecological habitats and corridors to reflect the local natural heritage and enhance biodiversity in the region.
2. Water: Protect and conserve natural and potable water resources.
3. Land: Remediate contaminated areas and develop healthy living soil.
4. Energy: Reduce the use of fossil fuels and the emission of greenhouse gases.
5. Materials: Minimize the impact of construction materials and the generation of waste.
6. Air Quality: Improve air quality of internal and external environments.
7. Heritage: Instill a sense of place that references the history of the site and the region.
8. Well-Being: Protect and improve the health and productivity of those who visit and work in the park.
9. Connection to Nature: Provide opportunities to experience nature and environmental education in the greater Orange County area.
10. Inclusion: Provide park experiences that match the cultural and recreational expectations of all visitors. Encourage community participation and civic engagement.
11. Transit-Oriented: Provide a transit-oriented development with less polluting transportation choices and connections within and beyond the park.
12. Monitoring: Incorporate ongoing measurements and monitoring of key sustainability targets.

Socially, the park will connect communities and residents from throughout Southern California. Agriculturally, there will be a ?EUR??,,????'?????<

Prototype and a Precedent

The designation of the closed military base as a major metropolitan park followed a vigorous 10-year public debate in Orange County over whether to transform the base into an international airport or develop it into a park and residential community. A majority of Orange County voters decided in favor of a park with approval of Measure W on March 5, 2002. The following day, the Navy announced its intention to sell the base by public auction.

Since military bases bring millions of dollars in federal money to surrounding communities, finding successful models for future development of closed military facilities is vitally important. For this reason, the success of the Great Park model of a public/private partnership has generated considerable interest across the country. The sale and redevelopment of the Marine Corps Air Station El Toro has become the new prototype in base redevelopment.

For more information, please see LASN?EUR??,,????'?????<www.landscapeonline.com/research/article/10427 or visit www.ocgp.org.

Leaving Nothing Out ...
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