BRIEFLY IN THE NEWS

PARK PLAN TO BE REVEALED

A proposal for a 971-acre park that stretches from Costa Mesa to

Huntington Beach wetlands will be unveiled at 7 p.m. today at the

Neighborhood Community Center in Costa Mesa.

The meeting will allow the public to offer input for a master plan that

will then go to the cities involved and the county for approval.

The nonprofit group Friends of Harbors, Beaches and Parks came up with

the plan as a way to preserve wildlife corridors considered crucial to

maintaining diverse, healthy ecosystems.

Most of the proposed area is found outside the city, but a strip of

wetlands hugging Pacific Coast Highway from the Santa Ana River up to

Beach Boulevard is being considered.

The community center is at 1845 Park Ave., Costa Mesa.

For more information, call (949) 631-1475.

BEACHES CLOSED BY SPILL TO REOPEN

Most of the beaches in Huntington Harbour closed because of a sewage

spill should be reopened today, a health official said.

Since Saturday, when an equipment malfunction at a Seal Beach sewage pump

station released 1,500 gallons of waste, the Orange County Health Care

Agency had barred swimming and diving at Mother’s Beach, Portofino Beach,

Sunset Aquatic Park and Peter’s Landing, said Larry Honeybourne, the

agency’s water quality program chief.

Tests show contamination levels have returned to normal, except perhaps

at Mother’s Beach, he said.