Foothills Sentry Page 8 JUNE 2025 Celebrate Dad & Shop Orange! dan@DanSlater.com 714-744-2219 1537 E. Chapman Ave. Orange, CA 92866 DAN SLATER Orange Park Acres 58th Annual 4th of July Parade Friday July 4th, 2025 Starts at 10am @ Salem Lutheran Registration forms: Orangeparkacres.org “OPA DREAMIN” Come Join in the Parade or Watch Along the Route Look for Grand Marshal Pastor Roger Frick Orange Elks and Emblem Club hold clothing drive The Orange Elks and the Orange Elks Emblem Club held a clothing drive to support the community. Orange Elks member Amelia Castro organized the project that netted over 1,200 bags of clothes that were temporarily stored in the Lodge basement until picked up. The biggest hurdle was getting the bags of clothing from the basement to the street. Elks members formed an assembly line to solve the problem. During the past year, the Elks and Emblem Club have donated $9,300 to community partners, including Friendly Center, OC Rescue Mission, Meals on Wheels, Orange Police Canine Unit, Operation Gratitude, CNHEC service dogs, CNHSAEC Scholarship Foundation, Supreme Grant-in-Aid, Supreme Literacy Program, Supreme Scholarship Fund, TKO Boxing Camp, Working Wardrobes, Braille Institute, Ronald McDonald House, Orange Emblem scholarship fund, American Legion, Sheepfold, Orange Senior Center, Esplanade Elementary School and San Antonio Church. By Carrie Graham Affordable housing, commercial development and several parks are just some of what the City of Tustin plans to build at the Tustin Legacy site, where one of two decommissioned military hangars caught fire two years ago. Community members were presented with updates to the decades-long reuse plan at an open house held at The Annex, a community use space near Veterans Sports Park on May 13. Area residents were given the chance to see what the reuse plan has in the pipeline, as well as give feedback on priorities and concerns. One of the most recent changes to the plan, approved by Tustin’s city council through an ordinance on Feb. 18, is the near-doubling of units on an Irvine Company property. The development, originally slated to add about 700 new apartments to the city, will now instead add 1,336. Of those, 334 will be affordable housing. Those units will be specifically reserved for individuals whose income is considered either very low, low or moderate. State mandates more housing Although California has incentivized denser housing options since 1979, the state expanded those incentives in 2021 to increase the allowed density bonus, or additional units over what would normally be permitted, from 35% to 50%. It also made several other amendments, including loosening the definition of a transit hub to increase exemptions on parking requirements, and provisions to streamlining the permitting process for building. Better incentives, plus the state’s housing crunch, have made properties with high unit counts increasingly more appealing for developers, as well as for cities hoping to bring in more residents and, with them, more revenue. In addition to housing for over 1,300 individuals and families, the development will also include a publicly accessible 0.66acre park, cafe and pedestrian paseos, and right-of-way dedications and easements for public sidewalks. The Irvine Company will take responsibility for landscaping and maintenance of publicly accessible areas, with construction expected to begin sometime next year. Confluent Developments is planning a 234-unit senior congregate care facility. It will feature a combination of units for independent living, assisted living and memory care. Still more to come In total so far, 1,000 of the site’s 1,600 acres have been completed, comprised of 95 acres of new parks, 5,000 housing units and about 2 million square feet of commercial space. When finished, Tustin Legacy will have Tustin Legacy buildout options presented at open house over 9,000 housing units, 170 acres of parks, trails and recreation space and over 9 million square feet of commercial space. Along with glimpses of what's yet to come, the open house also featured projects recently completed. The Bark Barracks, Tustin’s first dog park, held its grand opening on March 8, and includes separate areas for small and large dogs, shaded seating, natural turf and various doggie amenities. Last May, Alley Grove Promenade opened. The promenade connects The District to a neighboring office campus and sports a walking trail and pickleball, bocce ball and basketball courts for public use. Centennial Park, the city’s oldest park, is expected to reopen this summer after its recent renovation. It’s one of several parks to be built or receive a facelift in the past three years as Tustin works to balance the demand for housing with residents' requests to preserve green and open space. Moving forward, the constraints the city faces in developing the remaining 600 acres include how to best maintain and renovate the south hangar, the ongoing remediation of the fire damaged north hangar, federal and state restrictions and compliance needs, and infrastructure installation costs. The costs associated with the south hangar alone could range from $10 million for safety and security, to over $100 million for a full renovation. Elks member Amelia Castro organized the clothing drive that filled 1,200 bags with garments. Tustin has developed about 1,000 acres of the former Marine base, with the remaining 600 acres in the planning stage.
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