A little more than two weeks after the Irvine City Council began publicly exploring changing the name of the Orange County Great Park, the decision to drop the Orange County prefix within the Irvine-based park’s official title was finalized by a 4-1 vote, during the Orange County Great Park Board of Directors meeting on Tuesday, July 27.

It should be noted that the members of the Irvine City Council and the Orange County Great Park Board are the same elected officials. 

Orange County Great Park Board Member and City Council Member Larry Agran was the lone vote against the name change, arguing that the estimated costs will be far exceeded by the actual costs, once the project gets underway.  

With an estimated cost of $360,000, Agran argued the idea to rename the Great Park was unpopular with the public, as the name change item has been scrutinized heavily by the public during both the Irvine City Council meeting and the Great Park Board of Directors meeting. 

“When this was first introduced, I approached it with an open mind – skeptical of the need for a name change – nevertheless I try to listen and reach out to others,” he said. “This is not a popular idea – I’ve been around long enough to know that hard costs of $360,000 – you’ve got to be kidding. It would be double, triple that, at least.”

Another question posed by Agran, along with members of the public was: Why?

To answer that, in past conversations with Irvine Weekly, Irvine Mayor Farrah Khan has emphasized that from her perspective, the name change helps reinforce Irvine’s identity as a major city in Orange County and throughout Southern California.   

“This is a pivotal time for our city, and we are getting noticed throughout the nation, and becoming the destination for not only living, but working and playing. One of the goals has always been highlighting our city and have it be recognized, for its residents and businesses,” Khan said during the Great Park Board of Directors meeting. “For me, if there are changes going to be made, they need to be made now. If we wait or go further along, the cost that we are looking at right now – the more costly it will get.”  

Several residents spoke out against the need to rename the Great Park during the meeting, saying that staff had not given enough notice or documentation for residents to review in order to support this change. The item first appeared on the Irvine City Council agenda on Tuesday, July 13. 

Irvine resident Susan Sayer spoke in opposition to the Great Park name change during public comment at the Great Park Board Meeting. She added that there was little to no benefit to changing the name, especially when it seems that the majority of residents seem to refer to the park as the Great Park, as it stands.    

“Irvine residents stand to benefit nothing from a name change. Everybody calls it the Great Park and knows it’s in Irvine,” she said. “Is the name change worth the cost of time and money?”

Steve Torelli, manager of Orange County Great Park, presented an updated analysis of the hard costs associated with this undertaking.

“The physical items – renaming door placards, signs packages – would run about $360,000 or so,” he said. “The regulatory, administrative and online items would be done under the city staff’s current budget, and also the city attorney’s time already within the Orange County Great Park – so there wouldn’t be any incremental new costs to that.”

Prior to the vote, Irvine City Council Member and Great Park Board Director Mike Carroll explained that in order to help decrease costs the city would refrain from changing out marketing materials, and other lower priority items, and re-printing with the new name and logo – once the current supply is naturally depleted.  

“I would like to make a motion that we remove the Orange County prefix from the name of the Great Park,” he said. “And we do that in a phased manner, so we utilize the least amount of funds spread over the longest time possible, with regard to revisions to the signage.” 

As Irvine prepares for a phased-in approach to a name change for the Great Park, Irvine City Attorney Jeff Melching reinforced the city’s ability to make the decision, if it desired. 

“The Great Park is a municipally owned and controlled park. It’s not a regional park, it doesn’t require the approval from the county of Orange, or frankly anybody else to change its name.”  

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