Community: STATE OF CALIFORNIA OFFICE OF GRANTS AND SERVICES AWARDS THE CITY $5 MILLION FOR NEW JOINT USE PARK SITE

City’s Partnership with the Santa Ana Unified School District Played Pivotal Role in Receiving the Highest Grant Amount an Agency Can Receive

SANTA ANA, CA (March 29, 2012) – To address the need for more open space in the community, the City of Santa Ana has aggressively been seeking areas of opportunities to address this challenge. The City of Santa Ana and the Santa Ana Unified School District have been working cooperatively to provide recreational opportunities for the community through a Joint Use of City and School District properties. After a year of planning, an application to be considered to receive a Proposition 84 grant was submitted. The City was recently notified it was awarded the grant by the State of California Office of Grants and Local Services. The $5 million dollar grant was designated to develop a 2.7-acre park on the Roosevelt Elementary School site, located at 501 S. Halladay Street.

Four-hundred (400) applications were submitted to the State and only 64 applications were awarded the grant, totaling $1.3 billion. The City of Santa Ana award ($5 million) is among the highest grant amount an agency can request and no matching funds are required. The State indicated the established partnership that allows the joint use of existing School District property; community planning process; the park design; the lack of open/park space in a ½-mile radius; and the existing demographics played a critical role in the selection process.

Extensive outreach was conducted within the community. Residents provided numerous suggestions for improvements and were considered an important part of the park planning process. Improvements will include a 10,000 square feet Community Center, outdoor basketball/volleyball court with sports lighting, play equipment, security lighting, parking lot and decomposed granite walking/jogging track and landscaping. The park area will be open for public use during and after school hours. For details, contact Santa Ana PIO Jose Gonzalez to receive site concept plan.

The process to prepare environmental documents, construction plans, the joint use agreement and bid process will take over a year to complete. Anticipate construction to begin in summer 2014.

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Sent by City of Santa Ana, 20 Civic Center Plaza, 8th Floor/ P.O. Box 1988, Santa Ana, CA 92702