IRVINE – The City Council next
month will consider dissolving the Great Park Corp., a move recommended by an
Orange County grand jury in a June report that called the entity a “shell
corporation.”
The grand jury report mirrored
reports earlier in the year by accounting and law firms hired by the city to
investigate Great Park management and spending, which concluded that the
project’s mismanagement had resulted in a waste of taxpayer money.
A draft response to the grand
jury’s findings and recommendations, prepared by City Manager Sean Joyce, was
presented to the council on Sept. 8, but council members requested more time to
discuss its conclusions.
The extra time will give
officials, who first saw the draft at the start of the Labor Day weekend, “a
little more chance for in-depth analysis and discussion,” Mayor Steven Choi
said.
Joyce’s draft, in addition to
promising to dissolve the Great Park Corp. this year, also said the city would
create a master document laying out terms and conditions of Great Park-related
land-use contracts by Jan. 1.
The city also promises in the
draft to develop and publish a new 10-year comprehensive strategic plan for the
remainder of the Great Park by February 2017.
Irvine had 90 days from the
grand jury report’s publication to respond, but the city sent a letter Sept. 9
to Orange County Superior Court Presiding Judge Glenda Sanders asking for an
extension through the end of October. State law permits additional time of up
to six months from when the report was published.
The Great Park Corp.,
incorporated in 2003, was initially overseen by a nine-person Board of
Directors, including the five sitting Irvine City Council members. However, the
City Council in 2013 – a year after the election that changed the council’s
balance of power – cut the four appointed members.
Even before the vote to shrink
it, the Great Park board had been relegated to an advisory role for several
years, with decisions requiring a vote from the council.
The Great Park Corp. now
“serves no intrinsic function,” the grand jury stated in its report, “Irvine’s
Great Park: A Legacy Of Hubris?”, published June 30.
More than $200 million was
spent while only a sliver of the parkland was developed. Many millions were
spent on design and public relations.
Subjects of grand jury
investigations are required to respond to any findings and recommendations.
The City Council will decide
whether to sign off on Joyce’s recommendations at its next scheduled meeting on
Oct. 13.
Once finalized by the council,
the response will be submitted to the court under the mayor’s name.
Joyce said that while he
consulted with Choi, the mayor was not privy to the text before his colleagues.
City law says no individual official may give direction to the city manager.
Only the council, when it convenes, may do so.
“There’s a lot to talk about in
this report,” Councilwoman Christina Shea said. “I think council needs to have
input.”
September 15, 2015
Orange
County Register
By
Sarah de Crescenzo
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