COSTA MESA : Two Groups Given Place in the Park

With the pending development of the 200-acre Fairview Regional Park, several groups have asked the city for a say in its design. So far, only a model airplane club and an equestrian group have been granted their requests.

The park is one of the last open spaces in the city, making it a prime target for different groups wanting to use portions for their specific needs, said Keith Van Holt, who oversees the parks system in the city.

Not only are private clubs eyeing the land, but government entities also think it offers a good opportunity for development. Just last week, the City Council rejected a proposal from the county to develop the land into an 18-hole golf course.

When the city bought the land from the county six years ago, it wanted to keep the park from being turned into campsites and baseball diamonds, according to city officials. The Fairview Park Committee was formed to protect the original concept of the park, yet seek input from the community on its use.

“The committee has a general feeling that the property should be left in almost a natural state, except for a few trees that will be planted,” Van Holt said. “That’s about the only open space left so every acre counts.”

Although the city wants the park changed very little, it also wants people to use it, he said.

Van Holt said: “We want to put some amenities in there that attract people to the park and let them use it and see what they paid for, but you don’t want to ruin it.”

The Harbor Soaring Society was granted its request that the developed park have open space set aside large enough for members to launch and land their planes and gliders. The big craft whip up the side of the cliff at the park’s edge as they have for years.

Members guide their remote-controlled craft, some with battery-operated motors. Some are attached to a winch that propels them upward and detaches to let the craft glide.

“We probably have one of the best flying fields in the area,” said club President Norm Kutch. The park’s plans call for a landing field out to the cliff, he said.

“Most of the guys buy the kits and build their planes,” said club member Chuck Hollinger, who, as a retired graphic artist, prefers to design and build his own planes.

“They don’t always, right off the bat, fly exactly right, so it’s up to you to make the changes to make it fly,” he said. “Then again, it’s just nice to be outside after all those years at the drawing board.”

Equestrian trails to be built alongside hiking and bicycle trails are also the result of a group’s request that they be included in the park plan, Van Holt said.

The park, with steep hills, an old Indian site and a section of the Santa Ana riverbed, is also a prime area for wildlife that thrives in open spaces, said Gil Collins, Estancia High School teacher. Collins is a member of the Fairview Park Committee, which rejected the county’s golf course proposal.

On a recent morning, his marine biology class spotted two egrets, a marsh hawk and a California bumblebee. He showed the students how to find an opening to the Trap-door Spider’s silk-lined home woven more than a foot into the side of a slope.