City hustling to develop Fairview Park plan

Andrew Glazer

FAIRVIEW PARK -- Costa Mesa parks officials are scrambling to put

together a plan to convert weedy Fairview Park to the shrubby grassland

it was 100 years ago.

The city last week asked the state-run California Coastal Conservation

for about $200,000 to help fund the park planning, said Dave Alkema of

the city’s parks department.

He said he wants a detailed plan for restoring native shrubs, chaparral

and grasses to the park before next month, when California voters will

decide on Proposition 12, which, if approved, would free the state to

release $2.3 billion in bonds for cities to improve, expand and purchase

local parks.

Costa Mesa could receive at least $1.3 million if Prop. 12 passes,

according to a report prepared by the state Department of Parks and

Recreation.

But before Costa Mesa would see any of the money, it would need to prove

to the state it was committed to spending it on legitimate parks

projects, said Bill Corcoran, the Sierra Club’s public land conservation

coordinator for Orange County.

“They need to make sure they show the Legislature the project would

benefit the neighborhood’s sense of community, safety and quality of

life,” he said.

Alkema said improving the 210-acre Fairview Park should be one of the

city’s priorities if it did receive state funding for parks. He said

having a detailed plan should prove the city’s commitment to the park,

which had been destroyed by decades of grazing and farming.

“We’d be ready to go, and in good position to get the funds,” Alkema

said.

Alkema slipped and slid through the mud in Fairview Park on Wednesday

afternoon, pointing out the low-growing weeds that have strangled

scraggly native chaparral.

He trudged over mounds of dirt that were dumped in the park years ago to

cover archeological digs. He tread gently along a cracked mudflat. The

tiny pools that will be there after a few more days of rain are one of

the last places in the state where pinky-sized fairy shrimp can breed and

flourish.

Alkema then walked to the bluff and looked at the flat Talbert Regional

Park, which the county recently replanted with native California grasses

and shrubs.

“That’s what we want it to look like,” he said. “But things move really

slow. It would help if Prop. 12 passed. But I’m not holding my breath.”