25C - AGMT - OCWD CENTENNIAL PARK

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Section 5 decimated by the introduction of European diseases, such as measles and small pox, for which they had no immunity. After 1810, mission populations declined faster than they could be replenished. The Mexican Revolution, beginning in 1821, overthrew Spanish control and the new government of Mexico had a very different Outlook on mission activities. Mexico's independence from Spain in 1822 brought the Mexican Period to California. Mexico secularized the missions in 1833 and expanded on the Spanish practice of granting large tracts of ranch land to soldiers, civil servants, and pioneers. Secularization of the missions, planned under the Spanish, was greatly accelerated by the Mexican government. Plans to provide land, training, and living quarters for the Native American population never developed and the mission lands were soon under the control of a relatively few influential Mexican families. The rancho life style was relatively short lived, but remained an influential period in California history, During the 1840s, an increasing influx of Anglo- Americans from the eastern United States spurred an American challenge for the California territory. The American Period began with Mexico's defeat at the end of the Mexican- American War, resulting in the concession of California to the United States under the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo on February 2, 1848. Only a few days before, the discovery of gold on the American River had stimulated the Gold Rush of 1848-1849. After more than two years of legislative process and debate, California became the 31 st state of the Union on September 9, 1850. The Spanish land grant that lay entirely in what is now Orange County, the Rancho Santiago de Santa Ana, became the location of the city of Santa Ana. The Rancho Santiago de Santa Ana was comprised of 62,51:6 acres and stretched northerly for 25 miles, from the ocean to the mountains. Its western boundary followed the southeast bank of the Santa Ana Diver.. Current Conditions Prior to 1953, the land now known as Centennial Park was largely undeveloped. Then in the late 1950's, the United States Government established a Federal Aviation Administration Communications Center that occupied much of the land until 1967. After 1967, the property was designated as surplus property and was placed under the control of the National Park Service. Shortly after, the first of three separate land transactions occurred to transfer the surplus land to private ownership, culminating with the third and final transaction in June of 1977. According to a deed restriction involving the sales, the National Park Service must approve proposed undertakings involving the deeded land. One of the landowners, the City of Santa Ana, leased a sizeable portion of the property for strawberries in what would become known as the Centennial Nursery. The ry Mid Basin Centennial Park �8q&Affroject Final EIR 5-66