The future of a rare large plot of open space in central Orange County took a big turn recently after Garden Grove officials halted all talks with developers following word from neighboring Santa Ana about what it wants to see on the land.

Garden Grove ended negotiations last month with potential developers of the Willowick Golf Course – a 102-acre parcel that’s owned by Garden Grove but sits in the City of Santa Ana, where officials there have ultimate control about what gets developed in their city.

That happened about two weeks after Santa Ana Mayor Vicente Sarmiento wrote Garden Grove Mayor Steve Jones a letter saying Santa Ana officials want to see most of the land preserved as open space and would consider buying the property for parks.

“Santa Ana has a deficit of park space which is critical to the health of our community, something that was abundantly clear as we battled the pandemic,” Sarmiento wrote in a March 7 letter.

“A potential win-win solution would be for Santa Ana to acquire, directly or in partnership with one of the responders, a majority of the site for open space and park uses, with the balance either being leased or sold outright to a third-party developer,” Sarmiento wrote.

On March 24, a Garden Grove city official wrote three entities looking to develop the site – including the Trust for Public Lands, which wanted to keep the golf course as mostly open space – that “based on the letter” from Sarmiento, “it is evident that an agreement for the disposition of the property acceptable to the City of Garden Grove will not be possible.”

Councilman George Brietigam said that Santa Ana’s position essentially ended any further exploration of developing that property because its value would significantly decrease if it’s viewed as mostly parkland. The city’s valuation of the property puts it at around $90 million.

“It’s done. It’s going to stay a golf course,” Brietigam said Monday. “We took it off the market.”

The 18-hole public golf course has become more profitable under new management in recent years, the councilman said, especially during the pandemic, which fueled a resurgence of interest in outdoor sports.

“Now it’s making money and doing well,” Brietigam said.

Garden Grove Councilwoman Kim Nguyen said that both cities entered into an agreement in 2019 to look at how to develop the property, seeking a balance that would also include affordable housing. Santa Ana, however, has not looked to adjust its zoning from open space, she said.

“The folks who are upset this process has ended need to be redirecting their efforts to the city that oversees the land use,” she said in reference to Santa Ana.

With the letter from Santa Ana’s mayor, “that partnership has ended without us even knowing about it,” Nguyen said.

From his side, Sarmiento said Monday that he’s disappointed that Garden Grove ended negotiations with the developers and said he would have liked the opportunity to discuss the idea of developing the golf course.

“The last time both city councils met was three years ago,” Sarmiento noted, when both councils agreed to development concepts under the mutually agreed title: “Envision Willowick.”

But some things have changed since.

The November 2020 election brought three new younger and more progressive members to the Santa Ana council who made creating parks a bigger priority. This month, officials released Santa Ana’s first master plan for parks, facilities, trails and open space.  The city’s new general plan sets a 10-year goal of increasing the city’s parkland from just more than 1 acre per 1,000 residents to 1.5 acres per 1,000 residents to a long-range goal of providing 3 acres of parkland per every 1,000 residents.  The greatest bump, according to the report, would come from acquiring the Willowick Golf Course and converting it to a multi-use citywide park.

Another difference, Sarmiento said, revolves around money. Santa Ana has more cash now than it did three or four years ago and can buy land to create parks.

“We’ve received some federal rescue money that can be used for the acquisition of open space. In addition, we have a $40 million surplus,” Sarmiento said.

For Cynthia Guerra, a member of the Rise Up Willowick Coalition that was created to advocate for parks and affordable housing on the golf course land, Garden Grove’s move makes for a “bittersweet” moment.

The coalition fought for transparency and, through a lawsuit filed by an Orange County non-profit, forced Garden Grove to offer the public land for affordable housing and open space before it committed to other developments. Members of the Willowick Coalition argued that the city was trying to get around a state law dealing with the sale of public lands.

“We had two goals: One was to stop a development that would harm the community and the other is to get a large park, because that’s what the community said it wanted in surveys and in meetings,” Guerra said.

While happy that a mixed-used development is not proceeding ahead, “We are sad that the large-scale park is not being developed at this moment,” Guerra said.

Other than the proposal from the Trust for Public Lands, the other two development projects previously under consideration were submitted by McWhinney Land LLC and Willowick Community Partners, Inc., which includes City Ventures and Jamboree Housing groups.

Related links

Proposal due from developers for the future of Willowick Golf Course, in Santa Ana but owned by Garden Grove
Willowick neighbors say Garden Grove is trying to skirt new law by pushing plan this year
Santa Ana, Garden Grove sued over Willowick golf course development plans
Court stops Garden Grove’s Willowick Golf Course development deal
Three developers, plus Orange County, looking at Willowick Golf Course land