Nature center breaks ground

NEWPORT BEACH — Environmental Nature Center leaders broke ground Tuesday on their state-of-the-art educational building, continuing a vision that started 35 years ago as a gleam in a few science teachers’ eyes.

The nonprofit center, which leads classes for thousands of children every year and houses 14 native plant communities in its gardens, started in 1972 under the guidance of a handful of teachers at neighboring Newport Harbor High School.

On Tuesday, the center kicked off construction on its new home: an environmentally sustainable building featuring natural ventilation, recycled building materials and other features to combat pollution.

“It’s kind of a dream come true for everyone that’s been involved with the center,” said Bo Glover, executive director of the Environmental Nature Center. “It’s been our dream to have a permanent headquarters.

That dream might be less than a year away, as Glover said the center expected to have the facility finished in April 2008.

Officials for the center, who work out of portable trailers on the property, estimated the building’s sustainable architecture — including solar power and lack of an air-conditioning system — would save them $20,000 each year.

The center traveled a long and sometimes bumpy road toward the groundbreaking. For its first two decades, it leased its 3.5-acre property from the Newport-Mesa Unified School District, then purchased the acre closest to the street in 2000 and demolished the district’s then-headquarters.

Over the ensuing seven years, the center raised more than $5 million to pay for the new facility.

Former school board member Serene Stokes, who attended the groundbreaking, said she was thrilled construction could finally begin.

“Watching this develop is just so exciting,” she said.

Newport Beach Mayor Steve Rosansky presented the center with an official proclamation, calling it an essential partner in maintaining the local environment.

“This is an oasis in our community, and it deserves our support,” he said.