Public land cannot be in private hands

Land is at a premium in Newport-Mesa. Just ask those homeowners who

have seen their equity skyrocket in recent years.

And public land is even more treasured, as it allows all residents

to have the benefit of walking along the water’s edge at sunset or

take a morning jog through a nature preserve.

Those who clandestinely convert public land into their own private

property, by fencing off portions of city parks and adding them to

their own backyards, are wrong. And no amount of excuse-making or

money can change that.

Yes, the situation on Malamar Drive is a complex one, in which

city leaders had already denied the public access to a portion of

Irvine Terrace Park by building a fence about 30 feet short of the

property line to protect homeowners from transients who were known to

camp there.

Although it was technically still public property, the woody,

sloping area seemed inviting to two homeowners on Malamar Drive, who

landscaped it, fenced it in and adopted it. Similar measures were

taken by Mesa Verde homeowners in Costa Mesa, whose homes back up to

Fairview Park.

Homeowners defend their actions by saying the land was not used

anyway or that they found it that way. They have offered to make it

up by buying it from the respective cities.

City leaders have not made any formal decision about what to do

with the land but in both cases, leaders are shying away from selling

the land and rightfully so. Negotiations concerning public property

for private use should always raise red flags, whether it be the

Balboa Bay Club or a patch of grassland on some hill.

Those who chose to flout property lines and feel entitled to take

the people’s land as their own should not be accommodated with the

easiest solution possible. And if the land is truly dangerous or not

attractive to the public, city leaders should clean it up so that

people can enjoy it.

Obviously, the land is not so bad that it can’t be landscaped into

a nice sitting area for a backyard get together.

The owners of the land in question, whether in Irvine Terrace or

Fairview parks, are members of the public. And it is they who should

be considered as the top priority in sorting out these property

disputes.