Heisler Park to get help

State grant money will enable city leaders to plan $4 million in

improvements to Heisler Park, City Manager Ken Frank said.

Erosion has begun to eat away at the bluff-top park, which was

developed in the 1930s, and the aging, narrow pathways to Picnic

Beach don’t meet modern standards of access for handicapped visitors.

On Sept. 26, the California Coastal Conservancy handed $225,000 to

the city to fund half of a design study for the work. The city will

toss in another $225,000 to complete funding for that study.

“Heisler Park is slowly slipping away from us,” Frank said. “There

is coastal erosion from the ocean and from storms.”

Storm waters crashed against the cliffs so harshly, in 1997, that

the gazebo at the park’s northern end crashed into the ocean after a

chunk of land collapsed from the bluff top.

The planning study will identify problems at the park that need to

be corrected, Frank said. One part of the study will be to generate a

geo-technical study that proposes ways to control erosion and reduce

the amount of groundwater leaching into the soil, Frank said. It will

also generate working drawings.

Along the 3,000 feet of park frontage, there are three staircases

and one ramp leading down to the beach. Those pathways don’t

adequately allow handicapped visitors to reach the beach, Frank said.

Two park restrooms, that are more than 70 years old, also need

renovating.

“They won’t smell as bad [after the work is completed],” Frank

said. “They’ve been there a long time and they are pretty

disgusting.”

The city may also redo the park’s irrigation lines and install new

curbs and gutters in the pathways to allow better drainage.

The City Council approved chipping in its $225,000 chunk in June.

The city will also look for state grant money to fund the project

itself, Frank said. City leaders hope to have the project completed

by the end of 2007.

For the grant, the coastal conservancy tapped into money from

Proposition 40, the resources bond voters passed in March.

-- Paul Clinton

Officials gear up for Fire Prevention Week

The Laguna Beach Fire Department will join the National Fire

Protection Assn. and fire departments across the nation to observe

Fire Prevention Week, Oct. 6 through 12.

“The real goal every year is to create an active awareness among

the public,” said Capt. Dan Stefano, who has been a firefighter for

seven years.

The common problems firefighters see are disabled smoke alarms,

families who don’t have escape plans or residents who don’t look out

for home fire hazards such as drapes and furniture placed too close

to heaters.

Although the highest percentage of calls in Laguna are medical

aids and rescues, Stefan said, the 10% to 15% of structure, wild land

or trash fires can have devastating effects. Those types of incidents

are all the more tragic when injury or even death could have been

prevented.

“About a year ago an elderly lady left something in the oven and

forgot about it by the time she went to bed,” Stefano said. “You see,

smoke will take you out before the fire gets to you. Even though she

was OK, it’s such an easy thing to have [smoke alarms] replaced.”

Students in Laguna schools should expect fire drills throughout

next week. Also, the four fire stations will be open for tours from

10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Oct. 12. Station One is at City Hall on Forest

Avenue; Station Two is on the corner of Agate and Glenneyre streets,

Station Three is on the corner of Alta Laguna Road and Tree Top Lane;

and Station Four is on the corner of 2nd Avenue and Virginia Way in

South Laguna.

“We’re more than happy to go out and help people when they need to

install a smoke alarm,” he said. “It’s a really inexpensive life

insurance policy.”

For more information about the tours or for additional safety

tips, please call (949) 497-0700.