Orange County music fans might get a replacement for the iconic Irvine Meadows Amphitheatre in time for next year’s concert season.

Developer FivePoint – a company overseeing the development of thousands of homes around the Orange County Great Park – announced a plan to open an interim 12,000-seat outdoor venue on its property bordering the Great Park, pending approval by the city.

Under this proposal, Live Nation Entertainment, which runs Irvine Meadows, would design and build the new outdoor pavilion and adjacent parking with the goal of opening by summer 2017. The Los Angeles-based concert-promoting giant would operate the venue on the 44-acre FivePoint land for up to three years, while the city figures out a plan to build a permanent amphitheater within the Great Park.

“We are here to tell you that live music will not die next month in Irvine,” FivePoint Chairman and CEO Emile Haddad said during a press conference Tuesday morning at the proposed amphitheater site. “When you have sports to music to housing and jobs, you enhance the experience for everyone in the community. And that’s how a community is built.”

FivePoint set up a white tent to give attendees an idea of where the stage will be on the developer’s land at the end of the runways of the former El Toro Marine Corps Air Station. The site is less than two miles from Irvine Meadows.

“Orange County has become a major concert stop for touring musical acts, and Live Nation is committed to keeping the long tradition of live summer concerts alive and growing in this region,” said Bret Gallagher, president of Southern California Live Nation.

Irvine city spokesman Craig Reem said FivePoint’s request for an interim use permit does not require a public hearing or Planning Commission review but needs approval by the director of community development.

“However, staff will seek City Council direction prior to determining whether to approve, approve with conditions or deny the proposed project,” Reem wrote in an email, adding that no date has been set for a council discussion.

Irvine Meadows opened in 1981 when planes were still taking off from the El Toro air station. The amphitheater has since hosted such historic shows as Michael Jackson’s 1988 “Bad” tour and top artists including Bob Dylan and Coldplay.

But the 16,000-capacity venue will be demolished after the 2016 concert season concludes at the end of this month to make room for the next phase of Irvine Co.’s Los Olivos apartment community.

For years, Irvine city leaders have discussed building an amphitheater as part of the yet-to-be-developed, 248-acre Cultural Terrace area of the Great Park, along with a lake, a library and museums. Studies are getting underway to determine the location, layout and infrastructure needs, Reem said.

“I wish I could move things quickly, but as you all know the government process is much slower than we hope for,” Irvine Mayor Steven Choi said.

The city can’t develop the Cultural Terrace because Tierra Verde Industries operates a recycling facility on the site, Choi said. While waiting for the company’s lease to expire in 2018, Choi recently directed the city manager to start preparing a request for proposals seeking investors who want to build a permanent amphitheater.

Meanwhile, Live Nation and music fans have been informing the public about the Irvine Meadows closure. They’ve collected more than 30,000 signatures asking for a new venue in Irvine, according to Live Nation.

After seeing the city make little progress over the past few years, Haddad said, FivePoint began to discuss the possibility of a temporary or permanent amphitheater with Live Nation.

Live Nation hasn’t come up with cost figures to design and build the interim structure, but the company has enough funding to make it happen, Gallagher said. Live Nation built a similar interim outdoor facility in 2013 – a waterfront pavilion in San Francisco for concerts during America’s Cup.

The city is concerned with traffic congestion and access for police and fire the interim venue could cause, Reem said.

“The City Council’s first responsibility for a proposal of this size is to the Irvine community,” Reem said. “Adequate parking, ease of entry and ease of exit, pedestrian access to the site, lighting, noise and glare also are among the issues that need to be satisfied.”

FivePoint is working with the city to conduct a traffic study, spokesman Steve Churm said. The company is considering developing one of the following two routes to get to the venue: From Chinon next to Portola High School or Cadence Street off Great Park Boulevard, formerly Trabuco Road.

A parking lot on FivePoint property would hold 4,500 cars, according to the current plan.

The proposed location, wedged between the Cultural Terrace site and a future FivePoint residential neighborhood, is about 1,000 feet from the Irvine train station. FivePoint wants to create a walking path from the station to the amphitheater.

FivePoint hasn’t decided whether to get involved in building a permanent amphitheater at Cultural Terrace, Churm said, though the company displayed its conceptual renderings of a permanent amphitheater at Tuesday’s press conference.

“We are here to help and support the city,” Churm said.

Contact the writer: tshimura@scng.com