Our Laguna: Dilley’s idea bore fruit in Greenbelt

The open space that girdles Laguna Beach is testimony to efforts of Laguna Greenbelt Inc. to encircle the city with wildlands, first envisioned more modestly by Jim DilleyJim Dilley.

“We have exceeded his dream,” said Norm Grossman, a board member since 1984 and treasurer for four years.

Forty years ago, Dilley came up with the notion of a greenbelt to buffer Laguna from other communities, an idea he cadged from England. He founded Laguna Greenbelt in 1968-69 to drum up support in his own stomping grounds. And it flourished, becoming a nonprofit a year later.

The seeds he planted came to fruition in 1990 when 80% of Laguna Beach voters taxed themselves to help buy the Laguna Laurel parcel in Laguna Canyon, owned by the Irvine Co. and approved for a development of 3,200 homes and numerous businesses.

Laguna Laurel is a key component of the Laguna Coast Wilderness Park and almost 20,000 acres of contiguous wildlands that surround our town, including the Jim Dilley Preserve. The preserve includes the only two natural lakes in Orange County, one of them named for the late Barbara Stuart, an early supporter of Dilley’s dream, financially and morally.

The effort to preserve the open space was not a cake walk. According to the published history of Laguna Greenbelt Inc., it involved years of talking to local officials — many deaf until The Walk in 1980; reading and responding to environmental impact reports, attending meetings of city councils, county planning commissions and supervisors, Local Agency Formation and California coastal commissions, a multitude of regulatory agencies and even Congress, not to mention court rooms.

“At one time there were 10 lawsuits to try to stop the San Joaquin Hills Toll Road,” Grossman said.

It was the toll road that first brought the Greenbelt to Grossman’s attention.

“I was involved in an effort to defeat a sales tax for transportation because it included what became the toll road,” Grossman said. “I wanted to be involved in larger issues and the Greenbelt was a good place to do that.”

With the acquisition of the parcels in the canyon, one might be led to think that the Greenbelt would rest on its laurels, so to speak, but no.

It has worked hand-in-glove with the Laguna Canyon Foundation on more acquisitions and as stewards of the land.

Mary Fegraus served both masters. She joined the Greenbelt board in the mid 1980s, dragooned by close friend and fellow Planning Commissioner Elisabeth Brown, perennial president of the Greenbelt for the past 25 years.

Fegraus continued to serve on the Greenbelt board even after taking the more-than-full-time job of executive director of the foundation created in 1991 by Michael Pinto originally to raise money for land purchases. The mission later became the preservation, protection and enhancement of the parklands.

She has since retired from both and longs to see new, young faces replacing her.

“Our problem is getting young people involved,” Grossman said. “Look at any group in Laguna Beach and there are not enough young people. We all need to do something about that.”

One way to attract young people is to reward them for an interest in the environment, said Patricia Twitty, chairwoman of the Greenbelt’s Outreach Committee.

“We offer scholarships to reward the young people who have shown an interest and commitment to the environment in high school and hope they will continue to be interested in the future,” Twitty said.

“Last year there was such an amazing group of seniors and we had so many applicants for the scholarship, we gave three to Graham Harris, Sam Myers and Cassidy Robinson.”

Derek Ostensen is an example, Twitty said, of the younger generation that has grown up to be a steward of the environment.

Ostensen, a native Lagunan, remembers going on The Walk with his parents, Tom and school district counselor Kay Ostensen. As a young adult, he was credited by the foundation with the acquisition of 238 acres of open space and raising $150,000.

“He is just amazing,” Twitty said.

Her committee also awards mini grants to teachers for environmental field trips and projects such as the organic and butterfly gardens at El Morro Elementary School and bat houses.

“We sent two girls this year to an environmental conference,” Twitty said.

The activities of the Greenbelt are directed by officers Brown, Grossman, Vice President Wayne Ybarra, Secretaries Pam Strayer and Pamela Quigley, and board members Bob Borthwick, Ron Chilcote, Robert House, Marv Johnson, David Rosenman, Francine Scinto, Alan Schoenherr, Twitty, Lance Vallery and Lenny Vincent.

Their top issues in 2009 included the future of Aliso Creek, invasive plants and the ongoing efforts to keep the ocean healthy.

As the new decade begins, the time has come to solve some long-standing environmental issues, according to Brown’s letter urging folks to re-up as members or to join.

Membership shows commitment and helps pay the bills: $35 per individual, $50 makes you a donor and $100 gives you steward status. Donors of $150 or more will receive a clothbound copy of Chilcote’s “Nature’s Laguna Wilderness.”

For more information about the Greenbelt, visit www.lagunagreenbelt.org or call (949) 494-8190.

OUR LAGUNA is a regular feature of the Laguna Beach Coastline Pilot. Contributions are welcomed. Write to Barbara Diamond, P.O. Box 248, Laguna Beach, 92652; call (949) 380-4321 or e-mail coastlinepilot@latimes.com