IRVINE – A plan to create a water park at the Orange County Great Park is inching forward, though residents will likely have to wait at least a few years to enjoy its slides and surf wave.
The Irvine City Council, acting as the Great Park Board of Directors, on Tuesday unanimously approved seeking bids from potential operators to build and run a water park on city land at the Great Park.
“I’m very excited about the water park – everybody is,” Councilwoman Christina Shea said.
City staff has identified two potential sites within the Great Park that can accommodate a 25- or 46-acre water park – one straddling the areas designated for a golf course and Cultural Terrace, where the city plans to build cultural facilities such as museums, a library and an amphitheater, and the other in the southwest corner of the Cultural Terrace.
The city plans to lease its land to the selected operator, who would pay for construction of the facility.
Irvine’s popular Wild Rivers water park closed in 2011 after a 25-year run when the lease with the Irvine Co. ran out, giving way to the Los Olivos apartment complex. The water park provided more than 1,000 summer jobs for Orange County youths.
Wild Rivers President Mike Riedel has shown his interest in funding and operating the new water park. Instead of granting Wild Rivers a no-bid contract, however, the council in June decided to seek more proposals.
Bidders are expected to propose a water park design, preferred site within the Great Park, project financing and how they would operate the park.
Bids are due Feb. 28, and city staff are expected to return to the Great Park board with a recommendation within 90 days. The city will then negotiate a contract and study environmental impacts, which usually takes 12 to 18 months.
Meanwhile, the city could plan the rest of the Cultural Terrace and infrastructure such as roadways within the Great Park, city staff stated in its report.
Some amenities at the Great Park are starting to take shape, including a 175-acre sports park. The first of the four phases – which includes 24 tennis courts, six soccer fields, five volleyball courts and a playground, plus three “championship” stadiums for soccer, volleyball and tennis – is scheduled to be done by spring 2017.
Also, FivePoint – a company overseeing the development of thousands of homes around the Orange County Great Park – announced a plan last week to open an interim 12,000-seat outdoor venue on its property bordering the Great Park, while the city explores a permanent amphitheater plan. The city still has to approve the plan.
The Irvine Meadows Amphitheater, next to the former Wild Rivers site, will close at the end of this month to make room for the next phase of the Los Olivos apartment community.
Contact the writer: tshimura@scng.com
