Sustainable Sites Initiative

Orange County Great Park

Orange County Great Park

Size & Type of Project:
1,347-acre park; Greyfield and brownfield (Military base redevelopment)

Location:
Irvine, California

Budget:
$1.2 billion (projected)

Project Phase:

In Schematic Design; To be substantially completed in 2020

Project Overview

The Master Plan for the Orange County Great Park sets a new standard as a great metropolitan park of the 21st Century. The wise and conservative use of energy, water, and other scarce resources is central to the 1300-acre redesign of the former El Toro Marine Corps Air Station. The Department of the Navy has adopted the park as a model for future military base redevelopment.

The plan for Orange County Great Park calls for a wide array of passive and active uses, including miles of walking and biking trails. Most of the 1,347 acre park will be dedicated to open space, education, recreation, exercise and a place to connect with the local natural heritage. A tree-lined terrace and pedestrian plaza will link cultural facilities including a library, a museum, cafes, and restaurants. The park will also host Orange County's largest sports park and a botanical garden. Through the park's master plan, the agricultural heritage of Orange County will be preserved and the military history of the former air base will be honored.

Site Context

Orange County Great Park is located in the geographic center of Orange County, in the Southern and Central California Chaparral and Oak Woodlands, an ecoregion largely lost to agricultural and urban expansion. The region's Mediterranean climate is characterized by hot dry summers and cool moist winters. August average daily temperatures are 83 degrees Fahrenheit while January average daily temperatures are 66 degrees Fahrenheit. Average annual rainfall is 12.8 inches. 

Plan for Orange County Great Park

Sustainable Practices

Sustainable Practices implemented to-date

Integrated Design Process: Through an international competition, the Great Park Corporation (a non-profit charged with the design, construction, and maintenance of the park) selected a design team of experts from diverse fields to form the Great Park Design Studio. The project team and associated consultants include architects, landscape architects, engineers, and consultants in a variety of fields, including hydrology, soil science, transportation, environmental design, historic preservation, habitat restoration, energy, and urban forestry. The group continually evaluates strategies and design options from their various perspectives.

Community Participation: Public participation has been an integral part of designing the master plan, and in general continues to shape the park's design and program. The Great Park Corporation has conducted a far-reaching public outreach program to ask residents throughout Orange County what facilities and features they would like to see in the park. In addition to the outreach program, a county-wide opinion poll and numerous stakeholder planning sessions have been conducted to create a place that meets the needs of the community.

To engage the community during the schematic design phase, a small visitor center park was opened to the public in July 2007. Preview Park allows visitors to view development in various stages and acts as a mini-laboratory to test strategies being proposed on a larger scale for the Great Park. Among the strategies implemented are the reuse of El Toro stone, (concrete salvaged from former runways), use of solar-powered trash compactors, and of vegetated swales for stormwater management. Visitors can ride in a tethered helium balloon to a height of 400 feet; from that vantage they can see for more than 25 miles, to the northern edge of Orange County, and gain a bird's eye view as the El Toro Marine Corps Air Station is transformed into the Orange County Great Park.

Program plan with performance goals: From the outset, the vision for the Great Park was clear: Be a model park that demonstrates the best sustainable practices today so that all visitors can discover the joy of environmental and cultural stewardship. In addition, general sustainability goals were identified and formalized by the design team and the Great Park Corporation. As a model world-class sustainable development, the Orange County Great Park will strive for:

1. Connection to Nature: Bring nature and recreational opportunities into the Greater Orange County area and support the concept of stewardship of our land.
2. Transit-Oriented: Support transit-oriented development in the surrounding community with less-polluting transportation choices and connections within and beyond the Great Park.
3. Biodiversity: Provide ecological habitats and corridors to reflect the local natural heritage and to enhance biodiversity in the region.
4. Health: Protect and improve the environmental, social, and economic health of those who visit and work in the park.
5. Energy: Reduce the use of fossil fuels and emissions of greenhouse gases.
6. Air Quality: Improve air quality and noise pollution of both internal and external environments.
7. Water: Protect and conserve both natural and potable water resources.
8. Land: Remediate contaminated areas and develop healthy, living soil.
9. Materials: Minimize the environmental impact of materials and the generation of waste.
10. Inclusion: Encourage community education and civic participation so that all visitors enjoy an equivalent experience in the park.
11. Heritage: Instill a sense of place that includes the history of the site and the region.
12. Monitoring: Incorporate ongoing measurements and monitoring of key sustainability metrics and provide mechanisms for change.

Certain themes that have driven the design of the park have sustainability imbedded in them. These include:       

Park Once and Spend the Day:

• Five major entrances connect with adjacent neighborhoods and local public transit.
• Internal park circulation is being developed to be emissions-free.
• Orange bicycles will be available for visitors and small electric vehicles will be provided for the mobility impaired.

A Sustainable Oasis: The park will strive to promote a healthy lifestyle for its visitors while maintaining the ecological health of the Orange County region.  To ensure this balance, the project was organized into 5 "Flows"-Water, Energy, Materials, Nature, and People-each designed to optimize resources as well as the overall experience of the park visitor. (See "Sustainable Practices in design phase" for more detail on proposed strategies.)

Sustainable Practices currently in the design phase

Contaminant Cleanup: The Department of the Navy is responsible for contaminant cleanup at the base. An advisory board meets four times a year at Irvine City Hall to discuss cleanup efforts. For more than 50 years, aviation activities at MCAS El Toro have generated waste oils, paint residues, hydraulic fluids, used batteries, and other wastes. Because of regulations governing waste disposal for much of that period, some wastes generated at MCAS El Toro were disposed on the base. To facilitate and support reuse and transfer, the base property was classified according to Environmental Condition of the Property (ECP) area types. The area types are ranked 1 through 7, in order of their suitability for transfer (below). More information is available at: www.bracpmo.navy.mil/bracbases/california/eltoro/default.aspx

• Properties classified as area type 1 through 4 are considered suitable for transfer by deed.
• Properties classified as area type 5 and 6 are considered unsuitable for transfer by deed until all remedial actions have been completed or after the remedy has been demonstrated to be operating properly and successfully.
• Properties classified as area type 7 either have not been evaluated or require further evaluation in order to classify them into one of the other area types. These properties are also unsuitable for transfer.

Water reuse and recycle: The Park is researching ways to use Irvine Ranch Water District's (IRWD) "purple pipe" recycled water supply for non-potable needs. In Irvine, all irrigation in public areas must use reclaimed IRWD water.

Restore streams: Daylighting the Agua Chinon stream, which had been diverted underground, is currently being proposed in the design phase.

Stormwater management: Systems to reduce runoff and capture and clean water as it flows through the park include vegetated swales and natural treatment system (NTS) basins, installing green roofs, increased use of pervious materials, and reduction of hardscapes from more than 40 percent to about 10 percent impervious. Water will be recycled for irrigation within the park to keep potable water usage to a minimum. An emphasis on using native or California-friendly plant material will reduce overall water needs.

Habitat Restoration: Restored native habitats will be found in three major sections of the park - the Wildlife Corridor, Agua Chinon, and the Canyon.

• The Canyon will be a microcosm of regional topography and landscape. It will result in balanced cut and fill for the entire project and it is proposed in order to demonstrate the microclimate that exists in southern California. Its central location was selected as a counterpoint to the runway that was removed from that area and other more linear and hard-edged features of the park. The intent is to bring back native and appropriate vegetation and to provide a varied topography for wildlife habitat and public use. The Canyon will be home to hundreds of beautiful palm trees in addition to streams and pools that will support wildlife. Native plant communities will be found in other areas as well, including the Botanical Garden.
• The Wildlife Corridor, off limits to the general public, is reserved for wildlife movement from the mountains to the sea, linking the Cleveland National Forest and the Laguna Coast Wilderness Park.
• Agua Chinon also links a 974-acre nature preserve north to south, but is crisscrossed by paths so visitors may enjoy this natural area.

Renewable energy: The Great Park is considering installing solar technologies to generate more than one megawatt of renewable energy on-site, using a variety of technologies such as ten stirling dishes and a one-acre photovoltaic array, for renewable energy generation. The array would be integrated into the design as shading structures for parking. Also under consideration are demonstration hydrogen fuel cell-charging stations for electric vehicles. Park vehicles are currently proposed to be solar-charged electric or run on biofuels.

Waste collection and recycling: The OCGP Sustainable Waste Facility, the fulcrum of the maintenance plan (discussed in "Maintenance"), will be a structure for storing, sorting, and managing the three different waste streams that will be collected onsite: mixed waste, recyclable materials such as metal/glass/plastic, and on-site processing of organic waste such as food scraps, biodegradable paper products and fats, oil and grease. At the facility, mixed waste will be separated and stored before being transported offsite to local Materials Recovery Facilities (MRFs) and recycling facilities. A biodryer will aerobically decompose all organic wastes into biomass and/or compost and a biodiesel-production center will convert fats, oils and grease into biodiesel, which will fuel 60 percent of the park's shuttle bus fleet.

Historic and cultural preservation: The preservation of existing historical site references is important for the region and its culture. For example, military murals will be preserved and an existing hangar will be turned into an aircraft museum. In addition, the Great Park History Program will build a comprehensive program that documents and preserves the history of Great Park lands both prior to and during the transition from the Marine Corps Air Station at El Toro to the Orange County Great Park.

Educational and social benefits: Educational and social spaces, such as the Children's Learning Environment and the Cultural Terrace, will provide a variety of educational experiences and interactions that enhance the experience of visiting the Great Park. The Cultural Terrace, a tree-lined terrace 100 feet wide, serves as a key pedestrian and social space linking the major cultural facilities. Here visitors can sip coffee, eat lunch at a cafe, people-watch, drop by the library or museum, or catch the free shuttle to other parts of the park.

Connectivity and Accessibility: The park will include an extensive trail network linked to city and regional trails. Walkers and hikers will have a choice of easy or challenging routes. All sections of the park are intended to be accessible to all people, regardless of physical ability.

Minimize air pollutants: Once visitors arrive, they will have a choice of ways to get around that do not require gasoline or generate pollution. A biodiesel-fueled shuttle system is being proposed to take visitors to major park attractions. Bicycles will also be available for visitor use at little to no cost.

Minimize light pollution: Light levels will be reduced when appropriate by automatic systems to lower light pollution.

Material reuse: Material from the old aircraft runway (equivalent to more than 3 million tons) will be kept in the park and used as recycled aggregate for road base and landscaping features such as park benches and park walls.

Construction Cost

The projected budget is approximately $1.2 billion for total park build out. Because the park is definitely moving forward with only sustainable strategies, the project team is not comparing conventional and sustainable options. Cost estimates for sustainable development will be revised and prepared at the end of 2008.

Monitoring Information

The Great Park Studio is in the process of developing and proposing the following monitoring systems:

• A citizen-scientist program and wildlife kiosks for monitoring of ecological data
• Metering stations, both remote and central, to track water, waste, nature, energy, and data on people such as number of visitors, how far they travel, and number of different ethnicities
• Visitor surveys
• Sustainability Management System (SMS), a tracking tool to ensure that all the project's sustainability goals are met. Developed by Great Park Studio, this tool will be used during the planning, design, and construction stages and later for measuring, tracking and monitoring performance.

Maintenance

A comprehensive maintenance and operations plan is being developed. Special attention is being given to waste management. The OCGP Sustainable Waste Management Plan will divert more than 80 percent of total waste generated at the park from landfill and divert 100 percent of organic waste from landfill. The plan's major objectives are to reduce waste generation, encourage waste reuse, reduce waste volume, and reduce the travel distances required to transport waste.

Small visitor park at Orange County Great Park

Issues/Constraints of the Site

• Logistics of managing a large quantity of material on site (from the existing runway, a major site feature) and integrating it in the park design
• The region's current lack of public transportation connections
• Challenges of the current economy and the park's dependence on county income and real estate development

Lessons Learned

• The integrated design process includes monthly workshops at the Great Park Design Studio, but assembling the optimal size group for productive workshops has been challenging.
• The implementation of the Sustainability Management System (SMS) has been challenging, specifically in finding a way to engage all consultants and raise awareness of the sustainability agenda without creating too much additional work for everyone.
• Reuse of site features is requiring a thorough understanding of the code restrictions for reuse. In addition, it was critical to have assessments done on time to determine the level of contamination and material reuse options that are allowed or accepted by Code.
• The recycled water system and its connection to site irrigation and other non-potable uses such as wildlife habitat in the Canyon and the Lake are key to the project. The intention is to use this water to create wildlife habitat supporting a number of species with conservation value. For example, the two-mile long Canyon includes a sinuous stream water feature with a string of small pools and a diverse mosaic of natural habitats. Slopes are covered by rocky outcrops, woodlands, and coastal sage scrub. The described ecological features will enhance aquatic habitats.
• Planning for the Wildlife Corridor involves close collaboration among ecologists, civil engineers, and hydrologists. This sensitive parcel of the Great Park complex is dedicated to enhancing movement of animals across park lands, joining the mountain reserves to the north and the coastal reserves to the south. No human access is permitted, and plantings must allow wildlife movement across this space. Water is supplied by Borrego Creek. Although the Wildlife Corridor is recognized as a key component of the Park and supports the Park's environmental mission, the design has been especially vulnerable to value engineering and cost-cutting measures. The design of the Wildlife Corridor is flexible within a key set of parameters, but this design flexibility leads to the perception that the key parameters may also be adjusted. Gradual erosion of the key parameter values can be stopped or stemmed if the values are clearly identified and highlighted early on in the design process. Defining these values at the beginning of the design process, as the project team did, set limits to the flexibility of the design and ultimately the feature's vulnerability to cost-cutting measures.
• Using monitoring data to adapt maintenance and operations has been challenging when designing for flexibility. The project team is working with estimates at the moment and needs to allow for flexibility once real data exists so that systems are not oversized but can accommodate growth.

More project details

http://www.ocgp.org/

Project Consultants

Lead Designer, Landscape Architect
Ken Smith
Ken Smith Landscape Architect

Principal, Landscape Architect
Mia Lehrer
Mia Lehrer & Associates

Civil Engineer
Pat Fuscoe
Fuscoe Engineering

Architect
TEN Arquitectos

Project Management
Gafcon, Inc.

Utility Engineer
Butsko Utility Design, Inc

Sustainability Consultant
Buro Happold Consulting Engineers

Ecologist
Green Shield Ecology

Lighting Engineer
Conti Lighting Design

Soil Engineer
Wallace Laboratories

Water Design
Aquatic Design Group
Fluidity Design Consultants

Traffic Consultant
LSA Associates