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Item 13 - Willowick Golf Course Update
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Item 13 - Willowick Golf Course Update
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8/17/2023 3:41:22 PM
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Agenda Packet
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Clerk of the Council
Item #
13
Date
8/17/2021
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September 7, 2021 <br />Mayor Sarmiento and City Council Members <br />City Council Chambers <br />22 Civic Center Plaza <br />Santa Ana, CA 92701 <br />RE: Receive and File Update on Willowick Negotiations <br />Dear Mayor Sarmiento and City Council Members, <br />The Rise Up Willowick Coalition (“the Coalition”)is comprised of residents from the City of Santa <br />Ana (“the City”), the City of Garden Grove, and neighboring Orange County Cities as well as local <br />organizations whose goal is to ensure that the Willowick Golf Course property (“Willowick”) is <br />developed to meet the needs of current local residents and their vision which includes publicly <br />accessible parkland for active recreational use, and open space and deep affordable housing <br />The Coalition is providing this letter to the City Council in order to provide necessary <br />context and information that is currently not included in the Receive and File staff report <br />provided to the Council regarding the negotiations of the Willowick property. All the <br />information in this letter is a fact and is part of the public record. <br />2019 Lawsuit Filed Against the Cities of Garden Grove and Santa Ana <br />When discussing why Garden Grove cancelled the sale and lease of Willowick to McWhinney, <br />LLC, the Staff Report states that “Due to changes in the Surplus Lands Act, the process for <br />selecting a master developer was cancelled.” This sentence is misleading and does not <br />accurately portray the reality of what happened. <br />The fact is that the City of Garden Grove was in violation of the California Surplus Land Act <br />(“SLA”) and was forced to stop the sale and lease of Willowick to McWhinney, LLC. In October, <br />2019, OCCORD on behalf of Rise Up Willowick, sued both the City of Santa Ana and the City of <br />Garden Grove due to the potential illegal sale of Willowick through the 2019 RFP (Request for <br />Proposals). The 2019 RFP process would have violated the SLA, a statute that requires the <br />disposition of surplus land to be disposed through a public process and notices public entities to <br />acquire public land in order to develop affordable housing, open space and other community <br />uses. The City of Santa Ana was dismissed without prejudice from the 2019 lawsuit. <br />In late 2019, the City of Garden Grove tried to illegally sell the land to McWhinney, LLC; however, <br />Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Mary Strobel ordered a Temporary Restraining Order <br />in November 2019 and a Preliminary Injunction to stop the sale in December 2019. Due to the <br />filing of the lawsuit, and Judge Strobel’s orders the City of Garden Grove was forced to stop the <br />Master Developer RFP issued earlier in 2019 as well as the sale to McWhinney, LLC. <br />City of Garden Grove’s Appraisal of the Willowick Property <br />1 of 2
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