The City of Garden Grove owns the Willowick Golf Course, which is comprised of approximately 101.5 acres located at 3017 W 5th Street, in the City of Santa Ana. Over the years, the cities of Garden Grove and Santa Ana have discussed various redevelopment options for the property.  In September 2017 both cities approved a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) formalizing the mutual interest of both entities to discuss redevelopment options for the property.  The MOU acknowledged that both cities had mutual interest in examining options for potential development of the property and scheduled a joint City Council meeting that took place on December 4, 2017 at the City of Santa Ana.  At the joint City Council meeting, direction was given for staff of both cities to develop options for potential redevelopment of the property.  Options were to carefully consider impacts of redevelopment on surrounding neighborhoods, evaluate “Lessons Learned” from similar reuse projects, identify community needs, and develop a project vision based on the identified needs.

This Agreement would provide for both cities to further implement the exploration of the redevelopment of the property by retaining independent consultants to help create a vision of future development, work with community outreach to determine community needs, and determine the economic framework for the value of the property.  An economic advisory consultant would advise the cities on the development possibilities for the property and provide third party market validation of development proposals once a vision for redevelopment is achieved.

A community facilitator would conduct a to-be-determined scope of community outreach that would identify a list of community needs and objectives that a reuse plan should address.  The scope of services would include development of a “vision” for reuse of the property based on the results of the community outreach.  Outreach techniques would be selected based on the best fit for the community.  These could include conventional community meetings, but other outreach methods, such as use of online survey tools and focus groups, will also be considered.  Special efforts will be undertaken to solicit input from non-English speaking community members.  Planning Commissioners and elected officials of both cities would receive a presentation on the outcome of the outreach effort and vision developed for the property.  The vision would inform development of land use planning alternatives for the property.

Concurrent with the hiring of the two consultants, the cities will jointly develop a solicitation for a Master Developer.  The solicitation is intended to enable the cities to select a Master developer to begin working to undertake land use planning of the property based on the vision that will be developed through the community outreach process.  In addition, the Agreement will establish a Willowick Ad Hoc Steering Committee on which three members of each City Council will be requested to serve, to oversee the implementation of the Agreement and to provide reports to each City Council from time to time on the implementation activities outlined in the Agreement.

Finally, the Agreement would authorize each City Manager to approve the professional services agreements for the consultants and to commit no more than $50,000 from each city, for a total of $100,000 shared equally between the parties, towards the work of the Economic Advisory consultant ($50,000 total) and Community Facilitator consultant ($50,000 total).  The City of Garden Grove may take the lead in hiring the consultants subject to reimbursement by the City of Santa Ana.  Reimbursement of the cities’ contribution may be included as a term of an agreement with a Master Developer. 

The funding for the cost of both Consultant Agreements will not exceed $50,000 each and will be funded by the City of Garden Grove General Fund, Fund 106.  The City of Santa Ana would refund one-half of this cost for each consulting agreement.

It is recommended that the City Council:

• Approve the attached Agreement between the Cities of Santa Ana and Garden Grove to explore the redevelopment of the Willowick Golf Course site in the city of Santa Ana.

By: Greg Blodgett, Sr. Project Manager