In Orange County, it’s all about quality of life

When typical Orange County residents are asked what they like the

most about living in Orange County, I can almost guarantee you that

the answer will be that it’s because of the beautiful beaches, public

parks, recreational opportunities, low crime rates, good schools and

excellent job opportunities. When you roll all of that up into a

package and put a name on it, there is nothing else to call it but

“quality of life.”

We have to constantly work at preserving and protecting this

quality of life that all of us hold so dear. Maintaining the

environment in our area means more than making sure we don’t pollute

the environment. It means working hard to preserve the environmental

resources that we already have and at the same time enhancing those

resources by restoring or adding to them.

All elected officials who make the environment a priority in their

local or regional jurisdictions have the dual responsibility of

preservation and enhancement. I have chosen to assume these

responsibilities in serving the 67th Assembly District because it’s

so important to my constituents. I am pleased that my involvement has

produced results, especially in my hometown of Huntington Beach.

For the past two years, I have been involved in an effort to

transfer some wetlands property that is not suitable for development

to a local agency known as the Huntington Beach Wetlands Conservancy.

There are two particular parcels of land I have been working on for

some time. Both of them are located in the vicinity of Pacific Coast

Highway and Brookhurst in Huntington Beach.

The first parcel is known as the “Sand Dunes” property and is

located adjacent to Pacific Coast Highway. The California Department

of Transportation acquired this property several years ago in

connection with the widening of the highway. I wrote a bill in the

legislature that authorized CalTrans to transfer this property to the

conservancy. The conservancy already manages some wetlands adjacent

to the CalTrans property, so the transfer will help complete their

stewardship of this sensitive wetlands property. The official

transfer of this property took place within the last month.

The second parcel involves wetlands property in the same vicinity

that is owned by UC Riverside. The university obtained title to this

property several years ago by way of a charitable donation. Since the

land cannot be developed, the university has indicated it is willing

to enter into a land swap with another state agency. I have been

working hard to help facilitate this proposed transaction.

These efforts are close to becoming a reality. A deal is in the

works to swap this wetlands parcel and some forest property located

in Northern California, both of which are owned by the university,

for a state-owned (but empty) laboratory building near the UC

Berkeley campus.

This proposed land swap would be a win-win for both parties and

would be accomplished at no cost to the taxpayers. When the

transaction is completed, the wetlands parcel will be turned over to

the conservancy.

These property transfers create local ownership and at the same

time allow restoration to take place. Wetlands restoration is an

important part of the overall planning strategy for this coastal

area, and Orange County is fortunate to have a top-notch custodian

group like the Huntington Beach Wetlands Conservancy acting as a

steward for this property.

In addition to bolstering our wetlands holdings along the coast, I

have long been active in promoting the Orange Coast River Park

project because it will significantly benefit not only Huntington

Beach, Newport Beach and Costa Mesa, but also all of Orange County. I

have been working closely with Orange County Supervisor Lou Correa in

attempting to make this project become a reality.

Given the choice of a well-planned and maintained park with

trails, recreational facilities and natural surroundings along this

stretch of the Santa Ana River, or a freeway running down the middle

of the river, I know that the residents would prefer the park.

It’s all about quality of life. It’s all about Orange County.

That’s why we live here.

See you at the beach.

* TOM HARMAN is Huntington Beach’s representative in the state

Assembly. He represents the 67th District, which also includes the

communities of Seal Beach, Cypress, La Palma and Los Alamitos and

portions of Anaheim, Garden Grove, Stanton and Westminster.