Orange County Great Park

Capping a raucous eight-hour-plus meeting, the Irvine City Council early Wednesday voted to overhaul the oversight and spending on the beleaguered Orange County Great Park while authorizing an audit of the more than $220 million that so far has been spent on the ambitious project. A newly elected City Council majority voted 3 to 2 to terminate contracts with two firms that had been paid a combined $1.1 million a year for consulting, lobbying, marketing and public relations. One of those firms - Forde & Mollrich public relations - has been paid $12.4 million since county voters approved the Great Park plan in 2002.

Sisters-in-law Teddie Ray and Janet Ray know how to throw a party. The two dynamic women joined their husbands, Michael Ray and Walkie Ray respectively, to coordinate the second-annual Jewel of Orange County Fundraising Gala benefiting the Great Park Conservancy. The inaugural event last year raised more than $300,000 in net proceeds to support the Great Park Conservancy, a nonprofit organization dedicated to enhancing the construction of the future Orange County Great Park on the site of the former El Toro Marine Base.

With all the canyon fires we’ve had, and with Irvine Lake just north of the property, Lennar should encourage the Marine Corps and Orange County Fire Authority to lease their El Toro property. The Marines would bring in their aerial tankers and other heavy equipment for use in battling fires. Anyone watching the recent fires can see how effective water drops from these huge tankers have been. Lennar would not only be doing something for the greater good, but its balance sheet would improve from the lease of this property as well.

IRVINE — Orange County Great Park Corp. Board Chairwoman Beth Krom delivered the State of the Park address to a packed house Thursday morning. Krom highlighted the park's ongoing growth and Saturday's sixth-anniversary celebration, which will unveil the North Lawn — a mixed-use activities field the size of three soccer fields — and the Palm Court Arts Complex. "If timing is everything, this is a great time to be at the helm of this extraordinary project," the Irvine councilwoman said.

In a last-minute Valentine’s Day frenzy? Worry not. Cirque du Soleil has come to your rescue, with a Sunday special: Buy one ticket to their spectacular “KOOZA” show at the Orange County Great Park in Irvine, and get the second one free; this offer is good for Valentine’s Day only. For more information or tickets, visit cirquedusoleil.com and click on “Americas” and “USA.” Sad but true ShopGirl by Lisa & Helen, a boutique at 69 E. 17th St. No. 4, Costa Mesa, is shuttering.

The Orange County Great Park Corp. Board elected a new chairwoman and vice chairman last week for the first time since the creation of the board six years ago. Irvine Mayor Pro Tem Beth Krom was named board chairwoman and Board Director James "Walkie" Ray was named vice chairman, according to a city news release. Former Board Chairman Larry Agran announced his decision to step down last week. "I appreciate the leadership of Larry Agran and the support of my fellow directors," Krom said in a prepared statement.

Irvine is moving forward with a plan to sculpt 30 more acres of an old military base into soccer fields, basketball courts, gardens, ponds and a visitors center. The $22.8-million expansion of the Orange County Great Park will break ground this summer and be completed by late 2013 by Stanton-based USS Cal Builders Inc., city officials said Wednesday. The new features will include: Four soccer fields, four basketball courts and an exercise trail Six small ponds with a viewing pier, 400 tree plantings and a 99-plot community garden A 5,000-square-foot visitors center to replace a tent near the park's balloon ride A 2,604-foot walkable historical timeline  The announcement comes a few weeks after state officials ruled that $1.4 billion in property tax funds cannot be used to transform the 1,347-acre expanse of runways and fields into a public park nearly twice the size of New York's Central Park,  putting the future of the project in jeopardy . The expansion will be paid for with a portion of the $200 million in developer fees the city was paid byLennar Corp.The company in 2005 bought the bulk of Marine Corps Air Station El Toro from the federal government and transferred its core to the city in exchange for the rights to surround it with homes and businesses, though the name of the developer is now FivePoint Communities Inc. This story was reported by Times Staff Writer  Tony Barboza.

Despite the recession, Irvine has managed to go years without increasing taxes, cutting public service and has maintained its reputation as one of the safest cities in the country, city staff report in the annual budget slated for approval Tuesday. According to the proposed budget, Irvine is projecting about $46.6 million in sales tax revenue, a $6 million boost from the current fiscal year and equaling about a third of the city's overall revenue. The budget also projects about $42 million in property tax revenue, a segment not hit as hard as sales tax during the recent economic downturn.

Motorists planning to travel on Sand Canyon Avenue, just south of the Santa Ana (5) Freeway in Irvine, will want to pick an alternate route this week. There will be a construction-related road closure between Oak Canyon and Laguna Canyon roads. The closure, which was slated to start at 8 p.m. Friday, is in effect until 5 a.m. Aug. 6 and will require travelers to detour around the area via Jeffrey Road and Irvine Center Drive. The closure is part of the city of Irvine's long-term, $56-million Sand Canyon Undercrossing project, a grade separation of the street and train routes giving vehicles, pedestrians and bicyclists safer and more efficient travel under the railroad tracks, according to the city's website.

IRVINE — What a day to turn to the sky. On a warm, cloudless Saturday afternoon with the moon showing above the horizon, thousands of spectators kept their eyes to the sky for the Orange County Great Park's air show, part of the park's sixth anniversary celebration. The theme for this year's celebration was "Growing the Park" an ode to the continual development of what is expected to become an Orange County icon in the future. Already there's enough developed on the thousands of acres to bring out the crowds.