Planning Commission: FivePoint X and ARDA
The next Planning Commission meeting is Thursday, October 17th, 5:30 pm. Here are two items that might be of interest to you. For the entire agenda, please click here.
The below map shows the relative positioning of the Orange County Great Park features.
Agenda Item 5: Plans for Commercial Center, FivePoint X
Learn more about FivePoint’s exciting mixed-use commercial project located just south of the Great Park Neighborhoods. The project site is bound by Great Park Boulevard, Ridge Valley, Hornet, and the Orange County Great Park. The commercial center is reportedly designed to provide amenities for Great Park visitors and neighboring residential communities. Two hotels situated along Hornet and a warehouse for operations and shopping are confirmed. Will the proposal include design features for local neighborhood retail to support the 10,556 homes in the Great Park neighborhoods? To see entire FivePoint X plans click here.
Agenda Item 6: Zone Change for ARDA Site
The commission will hold a public hearing to change the current zoning for the ARDA site, which is 125 acres of city land. How did we get here?
- On July 23, 2019, the City Council (4-1) approved an Irvine site for the State Veterans Cemetery. The council chose a location that had been planned for a golf course within the Great Park over the ARDA site that was previously legislated for a cemetery.
- On August 13, 2019, the City Council directed City Staff to initiate a zone change for the ARDA site. The zoning designation on the ARDA south parcel is changing zoning designations from 8.1 to 1.9A to have the same land uses as the Orange County Great Park. See image below.
Any future development proposal for the ARDA site will require both Planning Commission review and City Council approval. If the City were ever to sell the property, FivePoint gets the first chance to buy the property.
1 Comments
Susan Sayre
October 14, 2019 at 10:16 amDuring the October 3, Planning Commission meeting, the plan for Great Park Neighborhood’s commercial center was scrapped and replaced by a plan to build a Luxury Life Time Fitness center and a 4 story parking lot. Members of the public complained that the 4 story parking lot would block residents’ views, would reduce their property values and would deprive the Great Park Neighborhoods residents of their neighborhood commercial center. When Commissioner Knowland asked if Five Point would provide Great Park Neighborhoods with a neighborhood commercial center, nodding vigorously, Patrick Strader promised the Great Park Neighborhoods residents that Five Point would provide their community with a neighborhood commercial center.
The Five Point mixed use commercial and business center which is to include 2 hotels, accessory retail, restaurants and entertainment venues is reportedly designed to both complement the Great Park amenities and service the neighboring residential communities. It is designed to support both tourists and residents. The Five Point Center will be located adjacent to the Great Park near the Great Park Ice rink and athletic fields. There will be pedestrian and bicycle pathways for tourists and residents to walk to and from the Center and to and from Great Park Amenities. Outdoor markets and food courts will be created for residents and tourists to mingle and hang out. This center is a fantastic compliment to the Great Park venues and amenities. But where are the district 1 north and district 4 “daily local neighborhood focused commercial centers” with electric charging stations for the residents of Great Park Neighborhoods that were approved in years past?
Five Point has discarded, with Irvine decision makers’ approval, Irvine’s Village master plan concept which provides small neighborhood commercial centers to village residents. Instead it appears that they have given priority to building a large commercial center that supports Irvine’s goal of motivating people to “shop Irvine and increase tourism” which would also favor Irvine’s business community as well as add to Irvine’s property tax and sales tax revenue stream.
Question: What are Five Point’s current plans for providing daily local focused commercial centers for Great Park Neighborhoods’ residents?
Question: As the Planning Commission is accountable for giving priority to the interests of Irvine residents over the interests of the business community, do the commissioners truly believe that the Great Park Neighborhoods residents would be better served by this mixed use commercial center than by the originally planned small-town neighborhood focused commercial centers?