Big Canyon pond creates rift

Alex Coolman

NEWPORT BEACH--A pond on the grounds of Big Canyon Country Club’s golf

course has become the source of a dispute between the club’s management,

which wants to fill it in, and nearby residents, who say it is crucial

for wildlife.

The argument has caused a rift in the middle of one of the city’s most

exclusive enclaves. Big Canyon’s gated, winding lanes are just across San

Joaquin Hills Road from Fashion Island.

In an area where the most prominent sounds are typically the hum of

late-model Mercedes-Benzes and the thwack of graphite drivers against

golf balls, the flap has introduced a new, discordant tone: the low

rumble of threatened litigation.

At issue is the fate of the small body of water that the country club,

in a recent newsletter, says is nothing but a retention basin.

The long, narrow pool in a gully behind Lochmoor Lane is fed by water

that originates at the Big Canyon Reservoir and empties into Upper

Newport Bay.

The country club wants to fill in the pond, which is on its property.

By doing so, the newsletter states, “We [would] establish an area of

expansion for the driving range,” located next to the pond.

Brett Williamson, an attorney representing the club, said health

concerns are also motivating its plans.

“There have been some concerns from members and homeowners that

because the area doesn’t have a constant flow of water that there’s

insects and things like that,” he said.

But some Big Canyon residents on the gully’s other bank enjoy the pond

and say they aren’t keen on seeing it buried with trucked-in fill.

“I’ve been fortunate to have that lake out there for the past 10

years,” said Lochmoor Lane resident JoAnn Hertel-Koontz. “A lot of us

will miss it if it’s gone.”

Attorneys for the Canyon Hills Community Assn., which represents some

area residents, said in a May letter to the Big Canyon Country Club that

the association was considering pushing for an injunction to stop the

project.

The association also informed the club in an April letter that it

would invite “all appropriate action” if residents’ consent was not

obtained before modifying local streams and lakes.

But association representatives are skittish over the disagreement

with their golfing neighbors. A spokesperson for the association, who

declined to be named, said this week that the association had not taken

any position with regard to the pond.

And Williamson said the two sides have trying hard to get along since

the letters were written.

“There’s been a lot of working together,” he said.

About two months ago, the country club turned off the aerators that

once kept the pond clean, said Lochmoor Lane resident Candy Klieman.

The water is now caked with scum and algae so it looks less like a

home to wildlife than a stagnant mess.

Klieman thinks the move is an effort to persuade residents that they

won’t miss the water.

But in threatening the pond, she said, the country club is adversely

affecting wildlife, such as swans and herons, that congregate there.

Klieman has written to the city and the California Department of Fish

and Game, drawing attention to what she characterizes as an environmental

debacle.

Dave Kiff, deputy city manager for Newport Beach, said the city is

staying on the sidelines of what it considers a purely private dispute.

“We don’t have the option to go in and say yes or no, that this is

either a good or a bad thing to do,” he said.

Lt. Angel Raton of the Department of Fish and Game said the concerns

about wildlife are potentially relevant from the state’s point of view.

“In any native stream or lake that houses wildlife, they would need to

get permitting” before making modifications, he said.

But whether the body of water behind Lochmoor Lane would qualify as a

native stream is difficult to say, Raton said.

“That might be an issue,” he said. “We would have to go and evaluate

whether this is native.”

Williamson said the country club planned to respect the requirements

of regulatory agencies.

“To the extent that there’s any concern about wildlife or habitat,

that will certainly be disclosed in the reports by government entities,”

he said.