Orange Approves Path to Turn Sully-Miller Pit Into Permanent Open Space: What It Means for Villa Park

On Aug. 25, 2026, the Orange City Council voted 7-0 to approve agreements that create a pathway for roughly 67.7 acres of the former Sully-Miller sand-and-gravel pit at 6145 E. Santiago Canyon Road to become permanent public open space. Under the deal, developer Landify ECT Construction Corporation would buy the site from current owner Milan REI X, LLC, fill and grade it with imported clean soil and inert debris, and then transfer it to the City of Orange with a permanent open-space deed restriction. The City would pay no purchase price. None of the fill work has been permitted yet.

Key facts

• Site: 6145 E. Santiago Canyon Road, Orange; about 67.7 acres (the agreement cites 67.743 acres).
• Vote: Aug. 25, 2026, 7-0 (Bilodeau, Barrios, Dumitru, Gutierrez, Tavoularis, Gyllenhammer and Mayor Slater).
• Parties: City of Orange, Landify ECT Construction Corporation and Milan REI X, LLC.
• Price to the City: none. Landify pays for the grading through tipping fees charged to haulers who dump clean fill.
• End state: permanent public open space for passive recreation, habitat restoration and trails, recorded on the deed.
• Status: not yet permitted; environmental clearances, an operating plan and a City grading permit are still required.
• Villa Park angle: January 2026 haul routes for a nearby project already use Katella, Villa Park Road and Santiago Canyon Road. No route or volume has been published for Landify’s fill trucks.

Why Villa Park should watch the trucks

For Villa Park, the most immediate effect of this deal is likely to be truck traffic, not a new park.

On Jan. 13, 2026, the Orange City Council approved dirt-haul routes for the 22-home tract being built north of Santiago Creek next to Mabury Ranch. The preferred route runs from the 55 Freeway to Katella Avenue, Villa Park Road and Santiago Canyon Road; a backup route would go through Mabury Ranch on Yellowstone. Villa Park Mayor Jordan Wu and Mayor Pro Tem Robert Frackelton told the council they had learned of the Villa Park Road route that morning and asked for a continuance. The council instead approved the routes with provisions matching those given to Orange extended to Villa Park.

Landify’s operation would be a separate, multi-year effort that also depends on inbound trucks delivering soil and inert debris. As of this writing, no haul route, daily trip count, operating hours or total fill volume has been published. The grading plans, phasing plan and soils management plan are listed in the agreement as exhibits “to be provided at a later date.”

How the deal works

According to the Aug. 25 staff report and the Real Property Transfer Agreement, Landify would buy the property from Milan and run what regulators call an Inert Debris Engineered Fill Operation (IDEFO): accepting, testing and placing clean soil and inert debris to build a final landform. Landify would own the land while it works.

Once every grading phase is certified complete, escrow is to close within 10 business days, and no later than six months after the final phase’s grading certificate. The City would then take title under a grant deed stating the land must be held permanently as public open space and used only for passive recreation, habitat restoration, trails and similar non-intensive uses.

Landify is not responsible for finished trails, equestrian facilities, landscaping or other amenities. Those would be up to the City after it takes ownership, through future planning, environmental review, budgeting and council votes. Before conveyance, the City pays its own oversight, inspection, legal, title and escrow costs.

If Landify performs and the City’s closing conditions are met, the City is contractually obligated to accept the property. The staff report says no second council vote is contemplated at the time of transfer.

Steps still required

1. Milan must finish the testing required by the June 16, 2022 Stipulated Notice and Order with the Orange County Health Care Agency, acting as the solid-waste Local Enforcement Agency (LEA). That includes testing of the stockpiles, subsurface soil and vapor.
2. Agencies with jurisdiction, including the Santa Ana Regional Water Quality Control Board, the Department of Toxic Substances Control, CalRecycle and the LEA, must certify that no further cleanup is needed for open-space use.
3. The LEA must approve Landify’s operating plan, and the City must issue a grading permit and approve a detailed grading plan.
4. Landify must complete its purchase from Milan under a separate agreement that has not been made public.
5. Landify must complete and certify each grading phase before the land transfers to the City.

According to the meeting minutes, speakers in support included Reggie Mundekis, Sherry Panttaja of the Orange Park Association and Theresa Sears. Laurel Maldonado, Dru Whitefeather and, in writing, Kim Plehn opposed acting now, citing unresolved environmental issues and the CEQA approach. Staff also answered council questions about a recent letter from the LEA; that letter was not included in the published agenda materials.

Safeguards and the walk-away clause

Before each grading phase begins, Landify must post security equal to 100% of the estimated cost to complete reclamation for that phase. A separate Multiparty Indemnification and Release Agreement requires Milan to buy pollution legal liability insurance with limits of at least $3 million per claim and in the aggregate, and a self-insured retention of no more than $50,000. It is to cover both existing and new pollution conditions during Landify’s ownership and for at least five years after the City takes title, but no longer than 10 years from issuance.

The agreement also lets Landify walk away. If regulatory conditions, soil supply or tipping-fee economics make the project commercially infeasible, the parties are to try to rework it; if they cannot agree, Landify may terminate. In that case its obligation on any unfinished phase is limited to rough grading, spreading topsoil already on site and reseeding. The City would not have to take the property, and the agreement states Landify or a successor could then develop it “in accordance with applicable law,” subject to the City’s normal land-use authority.

Staff also reported that Landify is prepared to pursue the deal through the end of 2026 but has not committed beyond that.

A long history

Sand and aggregate mining ran on the larger Sully-Miller site from about 1919 to 1995, according to the staff report. Beginning in the 1970s, the Santiago Creek Greenbelt Plan, the Orange Park Acres Specific Plan and East Orange planning called for open space, trails and a restored creek corridor once mining ended.

• 2003: The council approved Fieldstone’s 189-home plan, then rescinded it after a referendum qualified.
• 2014: The council denied the Rio Santiago proposal, which had been cut from more than 450 units to 395.
• 2019-2021: The council approved Milan’s 128-home Trails at Santiago Creek in October 2019. Voters rejected it as Measure AA on Nov. 3, 2020, with 63.1% voting No, and the council rescinded the project’s EIR certification in July 2021.
• 2023: Milan filed Builder’s Remedy applications for 231 units on Sully-Miller and 118 townhomes at the horse arena across Santiago Canyon Road; those were later put on hold under tolling agreements.
• 2025: The City, Milan and Landify signed a letter of intent in April. In July, the council approved a memorandum of understanding (MOU) covering the 22 Mabury homes, a proposed 30-unit project at the arena site, and an open-space path for Sully-Miller; the Foothills Sentry reported the vote as 6-1, with Arianna Barrios dissenting.
• January 2026: The City accepted about 30.75 acres north of the creek from Milan for its open-space reserve.

Staff say that if the 67.7-acre transfer is completed, it would join the roughly 14-acre Chandler pit donated in 2024 (see our 14-acre quarry coverage) and the 30.75 acres accepted in January, for about 112 acres of public open space along Santiago Creek. The pieces are not necessarily one contiguous park.

The site remains under state and county oversight as the Rio Santiago Disposal Site. Testing of one large debris mound, Stockpile H, found some samples that did not meet regulatory standards, including arsenic above background levels, according to the Foothills Sentry and LEA records. Full cleanup requirements have not yet been determined.

What’s next and what’s still unknown

• The LEA’s decision on what work is needed to satisfy the 2022 order.
• Approval of Landify’s operating plan and the City grading permit.
• When Landify completes its purchase from Milan, and whether it stays in the deal past 2026.
• Not yet known: truck routes, hours, daily trips and total cubic yards for the fill operation.
• Not yet known: the final landform, and which debris mounds along Santiago Canyon Road would be removed, reshaped or covered.
• Not yet known: timing for the separate 30-unit arena project and whether Milan withdraws its Builder’s Remedy applications.
• Not yet known: any trail layout, equestrian plan or budget for improvements. Staff say those decisions come later, through community planning and outside funding such as brownfields assistance.

Public access is realistically years away. Even if every condition is met on schedule, the fill work is expected to take multiple years, and trails or other amenities would only be planned and funded after the City takes ownership. For now, nearby open space along the creek includes Santiago Oaks Regional Park, the Santiago Creek Bike Trail and the historic sites along Santiago Creek.