Orange county has sweet plans for new park

Parks & Recreation, March, 2006

Orange County, Calif., is well on its way to creating one of the country's largest urban parks. Ken Smith, the New York City landscape architect responsible for the rooftop project on the Museum of Modern Art was selected as the master planner of the $401 million project, planned for site of the closed El Toro Marine base.

Smith's plan for the park includes a 70-feet deep canyon, stretching two miles across the park, with space for a lake, lodge, air museum and amphitheater.

The park is at the center of a 3,700-acre development project undertaken by the Lennar Corporation. Lennar bought the entire property last summer and transferred the proposed park section to the city of Irvine. The 1,300-acre park will dwarf Manhattan's 843-acre Central Park and the San Francisco Bay Area's 1,017-acre Golden Gate Park.

According to Orange County officials, the project, which could take decades, will be funded by fees and taxes derived from the surrounding home development.