Mayor Khan & Vice Mayor Kuo Push Through Projects Impacting Traffic Without Planning Commission Review or Community Input
Mayor Farrah Khan and Vice Mayor Anthony Kuo — joined by Councilmembers Tammy Kim & Mike Carroll — have taken a first step in adopting a Great Park “framework” development plan, despite numerous unanswered questions regarding cost, traffic, noise and other concerns associated with the proposed construction projects.
The new Great Park framework includes three troubling items: A massive 14,000-seat amphitheater; a $250 million aquatics & water polo facility for elite athletes; and a super-sized botanical garden.
The proposed amphitheater will seat 14,000, slightly smaller than the Hollywood Bowl. Given the fact that the amphitheater will no doubt affect so many neighborhoods here in Irvine, why wasn’t the City’s Planning Commission asked to conduct a thorough review of the project before the Council pushed it forward?
The $250 million water polo complex does not seem to offer much in the way of everyday use by our City’s residents. And, it’s still unclear who would be paying for this facility’s construction and upkeep.
The super-sized botanical garden is about the same size as Huntington Gardens in Pasadena that attracts 800,000 visitors annually. How will Irvine handle that kind of traffic every weekend? And, where are these out-of-town visitors going to park? Who is going to pay the hundreds of millions of dollars to build a botanical garden? And, who is going to pay the tens of millions of dollars in annual maintenance fees?
