Park to feature wildlife, streams

A 17-acre swath of the now-bare northwest end of Fairview Park, where a cattle drive kicked up the dust in July, will become home to trickling streams, a pond and various Southern Californian plants, under a new agreement between Costa Mesa and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

Corps officials proposed the $1.8-million project to replace the animal habitat that was removed when the Santa Ana River was cleared to meet flood-control standards.

It also jibed nicely with a wetland “mitigation bank” program the city created about three years ago, which allows developers and others who remove wildlife habitat elsewhere to replace it at Fairview Park.

The city’s long-term plans for the area have been split into three phases that could cost $7.3 million, but park visitors will see the difference after the first phase, which the corps will fund.

Several small streams will be created to feed into a pond, and native plants and small trees will be planted. When the plants have established themselves, songbirds such as the endangered Least Bell’s Vireo could nest there, and coyotes and other small mammals might frequent the area, Army Corps biologist Hayley Lovan said.

Eventually hiking and observation trails will circle the wetland area, city Public Services Director Bill Morris said. Later work phases, which aren’t yet funded, would include four more ponds to help clean runoff from the Greenville-Banning Channel, more pathways, benches and picnic areas.

The corps wanted to do the work at Fairview Park because it’s close to the habitat that was cleared out of the river channel, Lovan said.

“The same people who enjoyed this vegetation and the bird-watching as they walked along the bike path along the river channel, this is also accessible to them,” she said.

The City Council approved an agreement Tuesday that preserves the wetlands, once they’re restored, in perpetuity. But how soon the work begins will hinge on whether the corps can hire a contractor before October.

The corps’ fiscal year ends Sept. 30, so the money would go to another project if the papers aren’t signed on this one. But if everything happens as planned, work should begin in the next couple of months. The city also cobbled together close to $1 million in grants and its own money as matching funds for the wetland project.

The western portion of Fairview Park is likely to stay natural, but changes may be in store for the east section. Council members have said they’ll consider putting in a skate park. Other uses have been suggested.

But even in the eastern part of the park, development of any kind likely will be minimal, because council members want it that way.

“I prefer to keep Fairview Park as natural as possible and not put a whole lot of different uses into it, so anything that goes in I would have to really consider its impact,” Mayor Allan Mansoor said.

ALICIA ROBINSON may be reached at (714) 966-4626 or at alicia.robinson@latimes.com.