Plans for park dribble forward

Alicia Robinson

The Orange Coast River Park, a long-held dream of local

environmentalists, has taken some tiny steps forward in recent

months, but it needs financial support to make fundamental progress

toward what supporters hope will be a 1,000-acre park.

“Everybody agrees [the park is] a great idea,” said Nancy Gardner,

president of the Newport Beach chapter of the Surfrider Foundation,

which is among the groups working on the Santa Ana River-area park.

“Everybody wants to see it come to fruition, so we’ve gotten a lot of

cooperation. We haven’t gotten a lot of money.”

Park supporters are now planning to lobby state legislators so

they can benefit from the next statewide parks bond issue. Huntington

Beach activists used that strategy to get money earmarked in

Proposition 50, which passed in 2002, to purchase the Bolsa Chica

Mesa.

Orange County and the cities involved with the river park -- Costa

Mesa, Huntington Beach and Newport Beach -- have been clear that they

like the idea of the park but won’t be able to provide major funding,

Gardner said.

The groups plan to pitch the idea to state legislators, but they

realize it could take some time to see results.

“The big thing that needs to happen is somebody has to propose a

new park bond,” Newport Beach Assistant City Manager Dave Kiff said.

“They’re going to be harder and harder to do the more the state faces

its challenges.”

Advocates envision the park entailing preserved wetlands, ponds to

naturally treat urban runoff, athletic fields, trails and an

interpretive center.

It would tie together existing parks including Fairview Park in

Costa Mesa and the county-owned Talbert Park, and it would add new

areas, some of which aren’t yet developed and other that must be

purchased.

Some steps have been taken toward the organization needed to put

the large project together. The cities and the county have named

liaisons who have attended quarterly meetings with the environmental

groups supporting the park idea.

Those meetings have spawned collaborative efforts to plan for the

trails and interpretive center and wetland restoration, said Jean

Watt, president of Friends of the Harbors, Beaches and Parks, which

has spearheaded the river park effort.

“All these incremental things are happening, but it’s helping to

have everybody working together and collaborating,” said Watt, a

former Newport Beach city councilwoman.

The groups also are seeking grants to pay for creation of a master

plan.

Watt said they would be more likely to secure state funding if

they have detailed plans and cost estimates for the park project.