Orange County

The retail giant abandons its plans to build a "super-center" atop a Civil War battlefield in Virginia after facing strong resistance from a coalition of preservation organizations.

Nearly five years and $200 million in, contruction has barely begun on the Great Park of Orange County, planned to be as ambitious as New York's Central Park.

In Orange, California, city codes require that front yards be 40% landscaping. After considerately adding drought-resistant plants and bark to save water, the city sued an Orange couple.

The Orange Country Great Park has received the official go-ahead, with a dedication of $65 million for the first phase of construction.

This post from Governing looks at the long planning process of the Orange County Great Park, a 1,347 acre public park that's been in the works for 7 years. Comprehensive design plans were recently approved and construction is set to begin.

Many residents can still recount when their neighborhoods were far less ethnically diverse than their are now, which is backed by new census data showing that in most cities, the white population is down.