Wieder Park center of lawsuit against city

Eron Ben-Yehuda

HUNTINGTON BEACH -- A group of homeowners has sued the city over a small

park they claim is owed to them.

The Estates at Seacliff Homeowner’s Assn. has waited since 1992 for the

city to construct a neighborhood park of about three acres by the Bolsa

Chica bluffs between Garfield and Palm avenues, court documents dated

Jan. 27 show.

The developer of the residential community gave up the land with the

understanding that the park would be built, the suit states. But eight

years have passed, and the area remains little more than a vacant lot,

said David Porter, one of the homeowners and the attorney who filed the

suit.

The biggest losers are the children who live nearby, he said.

“The kids in the neighborhood have no place to play except in the

streets,” he said.

They better get used to dodging cars because the city is planning to turn

over the land to the county as part of its long-delayed Harriett M.

Wieder Regional Park, also known as Linear Park.

Plans for the 111-acre park have hit a snag because of the controversy

surrounding the proposed development of the nearby Bolsa Chica mesa, said

Mary Beth Broeren, the city’s senior planner.

She said developer Hearthside Homes will not dedicate part of its land to

the larger park until it’s given permission to build on the mesa --

something that has been fought over for more than 25 years. There also is

land contaminated with oil that must be cleaned, and no agreement has

been reached on how to provide water to the future park, she said.

The city attorney’s office would not comment on the issue.

If the suit doesn’t force the city to give the residents their small

park, they may have to wait much longer than they have already, said City

Councilman Tom Harman.

“The whole issue of Linear Park is a joke,” he has said. “I don’t want to

be an old man with a long gray beard before the park is developed.”