A BLUE version of the green-painted bus benches now on the street. The City Council voted Tuesday night to change the benches from green to blue (City of GG photo).

By Jim Tortolano

Bus benches in Garden Grove will be turning blue and land owned by Garden Grove but located in Santa Ana could be turning into gold.

At Tuesday night’s meeting of the City Council, a motion was approved 7-0 to repaint the recently installed lime-green benches to a blue color to better match existing bus shelters.

Also, the council voted 7-0 in favor of an agreement with the City of Santa Ana regarding the development of the Willowick Golf Course. The 101.5-acre site is located within Santa Ana city limits, but is owned by the City of Garden Grove.

The agreement calls for the cities to commit $50,000 each for the hiring of an economic advisory consultant and a community facilitator consultant. They and city leaders would work toward creating a “vision” for the property based on community outreach.

A “master developer” for the project would also be sought and a Willowick Ad Hoc Steering Committee consisting of three city council members from each city to oversee the process would be created.

The golf course’s fate is considered particularly timely in that the lease on the land will be expiring shortly, and the OC Streetcar line – which will have a stop at the site on its way from Santa Ana to Garden Grove – could be operational as soon at 2020.

Also on Tuesday night, the council approved $676,233.43 for in-car video and body-worn cameras for the police department.

The next council meeting will be held on Tuesday, April 24.