Wieder Regional Park finally opens

Jenny Marder

After nearly three decades of delay, the first phase of the Harriet

M. Wieder Regional Park will finally celebrate its grand opening this

afternoon.

California Sycamores, sagebrush and sunflowers surround

dun-colored walkways and a collection of bright red, yellow and green

slides, swings and a large jungle gym -- “the newest type of

playground equipment out there,” according to Don Hughes, executive

assistant to Orange County Supervisor Jim Silva.

Families can picnic on the grass, while gazing out over the

meandering waterways and active oil rigs splayed across the Bolsa

Chica Wetlands. The four-acre park at Seapoint Avenue and Garfield

Street also boasts a scenic ocean view.

This is the first phase of 106 acres of proposed parkland slated

to run along the east side of Bolsa Chica. Plans for the complete

park would include native vegetation, an interpretive center and

2,200 feet of trails that will connect to Huntington Beach Central

Park, Hughes said.

Costs for construction of the four-acre section was about $1.6

million and took about a year to complete.

The county hopes to acquire the additional 49 acres for the park

from landowner Hearthside Homes, which has agreed to dedicate the

land pending Coastal Commission approval of its development plans on

the Bolsa Chica Mesa.

“Hearthside will graciously dedicate this land once the

development plan is approved,” said Lucy Dunn, vice president of

Hearthside Homes.

Until then, plans are on hold.

The idea for the park was conceived in 1977 by an assistant to

former Orange County Supervisor Larry Schmidt, said John Erskine,

former Huntington Beach mayor and former vice president of the

Estates at Seacliff Homeowner’s Assn. The homeowners association,

along with other Huntington Beach residents, lobbied fiercely for the

park over the years.

“A lot of the [neighborhood] residents wanted to see some park

that their kids could actually use,” Erskine said. “We probably had,

at some of the key meetings when Linear Park was being discussed ...

about 100 to 200 residents from the neighborhood there. There was a

strong turnout and a very active push for that park.”

The official grand opening ceremony will be held at 2 p.m. today

and will feature speeches from Silva, Mayor Cathy Green and the

park’s namesake, former Huntington Beach Mayor and Orange County

Supervisor Harriet M. Wieder.