2005-2006 Grand Jury Report
The Orange County
Great Park: Whose Park Is It?
Board of Supervisors' Response
to Findings and Recommendations
Agenda item August 22, 2006
Response to Grand Jury Finding 6.4
6.4
Board of Supervisors relinquished control of the Great Park:
By relinquishing control of the Great Park,
the Orange County
Board of Supervisors helped contribute to the loss of countywide
participation.
Response: Disagrees wholly with
finding.
The Board of Supervisors never had
control of
the Great
Park.
Upon passage of Measure W, the Department of the Navy
immediately
announced that it would sell Marine Corps Air Station, El Toro to the highest bidder.
Prior to March of 2002, the County
had plans
to develop the former MCAS, El Toro
(“Property”)
as an airport. Throughout the time the
County was planning the redevelopment of El Toro
for aviation purposes, ownership of the Property remained with the
Navy, and
was never conveyed to the County. During
the planning process, the County did lease portions of El Toro from the Navy on a temporary basis, but
that lease was
terminated after the passage of Measure W.
In March, 2002, Measure W was enacted by the voters of Orange County. As
a result of the passage of Measure W, the
Property was subject to new land use restrictions which specifically
excluded
any aviation use. Hence, the County
withdrew from development of an airport.
Although the new land use
restrictions allowed
the development of a Great Park on the Property, Measure W neither
mandated nor
provided funds for the development of a Great Park,
or any other specific use of the Property.
It should be noted that prior to the passage of Measure W, the
County
Auditor-Controller caused a Fiscal Impact Analysis to be prepared which
concluded that developing the El Toro Property consistent with Measure
W would
cost the County an estimated $37 million more on services and other
expenditures than the amount of revenue which would be generated by the
property. The Fiscal Impact Analysis
also indicated that there were many important risk factors which could
cause
those costs to go higher. Additionally, the day after Measure W was
passed the
Department of the Navy issued a press release expressing their interest
to
dispose of the Property by means of a public sale, instead of a gift of
the
land to the County. Measure W also
placed significant restrictions on the types of developments which
could be
placed on the property, thereby limiting the tax revenues which could
be raised
to offset the costs of development of the Great Park. Measure W, by its own terms, would cease to
apply to the Property once it was annexed by any city. [Section Seven of Measure W states that
“[n]othing in this Initiative shall be
interpreted to impose any land use restriction or other limitation on
any lands
within the incorporated area of any city, or to restrict the authority
of the
Orange County Local Agency Formation Commission.” ]
<> Moreover,
the Local Agency Formation
Commission (“LAFCO”), which has jurisdiction to determine which
unincorporated
areas fall within a city’s sphere of influence, determined that the
Property
fell exclusively within Irvine’s sphere
of
influence, and therefore should be annexed to Irvine.
The County’s External Restructuring policy for unincorporated
islands
encourages cities to annex unincorporated County territory within their
spheres
of influence. In accordance with this
Policy, the County entered into a pre-annexation and property tax
agreement
with the City of Irvine whereby the
County
agreed not to oppose Irvine’s
annexation of the Property. In exchange,
Irvine agreed to the County sharing in a certain percentage of the
property
taxes as well as receipt of certain parcels of property, totaling
approximately
240 acres to be used for certain County purposes such as a Youth and
Family
Resource Center, an animal shelter, childcare facilities, law
enforcement
training facilities, and an emergency shelter.
Response to Recommendation 7.3
7.3
Regain control of the Great
Park: The
Board of Supervisors, representing all Orange
County citizens, should
consider legal
action to return control of the Great
Park to the people of Orange County.
Response: This recommendation will
not be implemented.
There is no basis for legal action
by the
County against the City of Irvine with
regard to
issues involving the Great
Park.