On behalf of the City of Irvine, I want to begin by thanking the Department of the Navy, Assistant Secretary of the Navy H.T. Johnson, Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Navy Wayne Arny, General Services Administration Assistant Commissioner Gordon Creed, my colleagues on the Irvine City Council, our City Manager Allison Hart, the hard working members of our City staff, and the elected and appointed officials from throughout Orange County who are gathered here today.

Through your efforts we have accomplished in just three short months something that others have been unable to accomplish over a period of many years.  We have formed a partnership between and among federal, state, and local governments that will lead to the realization of our dream – the creation of America’s greatest metropolitan park right here in the center of Orange County.

Today’s announcement is a testament to our democratic system of government.  For ten years, a grassroots movement of citizens fought the combined might of powerful special interests to stop an international airport from being built at El Toro.

We were not satisfied to simply defeat El Toro Airport.  We were – and we are – determined to replace it with the Orange County Great Park, a vast multi-use park and nature preserve that will be the crown jewel of our entire County and a source of pride for generations to come.

Once owned by the Irvine family as part of the Irvine Ranch, El Toro became publicly owned property in 1942, at the beginning of World War II.  That’s when the federal government purchased El Toro to build a major West Coast military base, known to us as MCAS El Toro or the Marine Corps Air Station at El Toro.

Located at the geographic center of then-rural Orange County, many hundreds of thousands of young men and women from all over the United States were trained at El Toro – initially for combat in World War II, but later for service in Korea, Vietnam, and finally in the Persian Gulf War.

It was always understood that some day MCAS El Toro would be decommissioned and would revert to civilian use. In fact, this understanding was written into the major planning documents associated with the incorporation of the City of Irvine in 1971. Indeed, of the 4,738 acres, or approximately seven square miles, that comprise MCAS El Toro, 440 acres are today within the City of Irvine’s municipal boundaries and are subject to City of Irvine zoning authority.  The balance of El Toro – nearly 4,300 acres – is adjacent to the City of Irvine and within the City’s officially designated sphere of influence.

For decades this has meant that all relevant parties – the County of Orange, The Irvine Company, the City of Irvine, and all neighboring cities – accepted the fact that when the federal government finally closed El Toro and when the military left, the property would be annexed by the City of Irvine and reused for non-aviation civilian purposes to benefit all of Orange County.

On March 5, 2002, the overwhelming voter approval of Measure W brought that dream one step closer to reality.

On the morning after the election, the Navy announced that it would honor the will of Orange County voters by selling the property subject to the uses permitted by Measure W.  The Navy’s announcement that the property would be sold at public auction caught many by surprise.  This represented a change in the established policy of transferring military bases to public ownership through public benefit conveyances and economic development conveyances.

Initially, many Orange County residents were apprehensive.  We now realize that the Navy’s new policy – conveying property from federal to local control through a public auction – presented a unique opportunity to achieve our separate and shared goals.

Immediately following the Navy’s announcement, the City of Irvine went to work developing a land-use plan that would meet the Navy’s goal of maximizing the value of the property for the taxpayers of the United States and fulfill our promise to create a Great Park at no cost to Orange County taxpayers.

Hard work and extraordinary cooperation between representatives from the City of Irvine, the Department of the Navy, the General Services Administration, and federal, state, and County officials has produced the plan that we are proud to unveil today.

The Orange County Great Park Plan is based on the same sound principles that have made Irvine the largest, most successful master-planned city in America.

In order to implement the Orange County Great Park Plan, the City of Irvine will annex El Toro.  This will give us planning and zoning control over the property.  The Navy, as the landowner, will sell the property at auction and transfer it to private owners after the City has annexed the property. The City will not receive any portion of the property from the Navy, nor will we develop it.  That role will be left to the private sector subject to the City’s land-use and regulatory authority.

Under the Great Park Plan, 4,000 acres will be dedicated to park land, open space, recreation, and education and institutional uses.  These land uses include a central park with vast meadowlands and riparian corridors; a large nature preserve with associated wildlife corridors; the county’s largest sports park; exposition areas large enough to hold art, history, and science museums; botanical gardens and even a major metropolitan library; a veterans’ memorial and cemetery; golf courses; a university; and more than 300 acres of permanent agriculture.

A total of 3,400 housing units and approximately 2.9 million square feet of retail office and commercial space will be developed principally on the perimeter of the Great Park.

The City will require landowners, as a condition of entitlement, to dedicate land to public uses and to pay fees to a public trust that will develop and maintain the Great Park.

Other great metropolitan parks have required fifty years or more to develop.  By contrast, our Great Park development strategy – harnessing the power of private capital and the benefit of enlightened public planning – will enable all key elements of the Great Park to be developed within ten years.

Pause for a moment and think about what this plan means for the people of Orange County. We will have a Great Park larger than New York’s Central Park and San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park and San Diego’s Balboa Park combined .  Moreover, the Great Park we are planning will be developed and maintained in perpetuity with private dollars.

I am pleased to report that the Great Park Plan meets all of the goals the City of Irvine set forth when we first envisioned the Great Park and drafted Measure W:  There will be no airport at El Toro. And, yes, just as we promised, we will create one of America’s greatest metropolitan parks right here in the center of Orange County.