The Great Park in Irvine, California Relies on StrongBox Enclosures

Date Posted: October 11, 2018

When the El Toro Marine Corps Air Station closed its doors several years ago, the City of Irvine had a vision of transforming the hundreds of acres of open land into a wonderful park for its residents to enjoy for decades to come. The Orange County Great Park will be under development for many years before all the phases are complete, but it already boasts amenities that include several soccer fields with 11 more planned, eight baseball fields, a wide variety of playgrounds and picnic areas, a carousel, and even a bright orange hot air balloon ride! Two residential communities are also being developed along the edges of the Park.

Several different landscape and architectural design firms have had a hand in developing various spaces throughout the park where the use of StrongBox enclosures are being utilized to protect the complex irrigation and lighting system controls needed.

Kenton Miersma is a senior project manager at Summers Murphy & Partners, Inc. (SMP) in Dana Point, California. The company has been serving residential builders in Orange County and throughout the Southwest for almost 50 years. His firm worked closely with the residential developer at the Orange County Great Park and developed a large streetscape design that included specs for more than 30 of our StrongBox enclosures.

“We think StrongBox enclosures are some of the best boxes out there because of their flexibility to house virtually every type of system,” says Miersma, who states that his company has been specifying StrongBox for years. “It offers options for both irrigation and lighting controllers, which is extremely helpful, and it’s already pre-approved by the City of Irvine,” he explains. “StrongBox is the best of the best. The enclosures are aesthetically pleasing, well built and very attractive. They look professional and we find they are the most durable in an outdoor setting”.

StrongBox enclosures can also be found throughout various open spaces in the Park to provide protection of irrigation system controls for playing fields, picnic areas and even more rugged, natural spaces, which require different watering needs.

StrongBox is extremely proud to work with fine designers such as Kenton. Kenton’s reliance on StrongBox for controller protection means a great deal to us. It’s an honor to be part of an exciting project like the Orange County Great Park.