Park Plan Resurrected

By SHELBY GRAD

June 17, 1996 12 AM PT

SPECIAL TO THE TIMES

NEWPORT BEACH — Workers are finally laying asphalt trails along the edge of a peaceful meadow that overlooks the meandering bluffs and jagged skyline of Upper Newport Bay.

The bike trail marks the beginning of the much-anticipated development of Upper Newport Bay Regional Park, a 144-acre strip of open space situated mostly along the estuary’s northwest shore.

The county park--which will one day include equestrian and hiking trials and a dramatic nature center notched into a hillside--has been on the books for years. But like so many other county projects, it got caught in the December 1994 bankruptcy, forcing delays and plan changes.

While the $6-million project is now back on track, the future of three other hoped-for regional parks remains uncertain.

The bankruptcy recovery plan is costing the county’s Harbors, Beaches and Parks Department $90 million in state revenue over the next 20 years. As a result, the department doesn’t have the funds needed to fully develop three parks that were on the drawing boards, including a nature preserve at the mouth of the Santa Ana River and another park site near the Bolsa Chica wetlands.

Officials hope to eventually accumulate some of the needed funds, but private donations will be required for the projects to reach completion.

“It’s certainly a gigantic hit to our finances,” said Robert G. Fisher, director of harbors, beaches and parks. “But we are not going to be dismayed by the setback. We think we can overcome it through creativity and generosity.”

Upper Newport Bay Regional Park, Fisher and others insist, serves as a model for how government and the private sector can work together to bring projects to fruition.

The land for the park was donated several years ago by the Irvine Co. in exchange for certain development rights. In 1990, Newport Beach philanthropists Mary and Peter Muth contributed $1 million toward the park’s nature center.

The Muth donation, along with other county funds, was being kept in the county’s ill-fated investment pool, where it stayed frozen for several months after the county’s bankruptcy filing. When the funds were finally unfrozen, the parks department only recouped about 75% of the donation. To keep the project on target, The county found an additional $250,000 to devote to the park.

“This is a true example of a public-private partnership,” said Supervisor Marian Bergeson, who lives near the bay and has worked to develop the park since her days in the state Legislature.

The sliver-like park site is one of the few remaining pieces of undeveloped land on the bay, which is ringed by an assortment of glass-and-steel office towers and upscale homes.

“When we first moved here, there was a rather ambitious effort to put boat marinas and other larger developments around here,” Bergeson added. “If it were not for citizen [opposition], this area might well have been developed.”

In planning the park, county officials decided to keep the land as “passive” as possible. Instead of playgrounds and ball fields, the site will have dirt trails for walking and horseback riding that cut across acres of native plant life.

The bike path under construction will connect to a larger trail that runs from the Woodbridge section of Irvine to Lower Newport Bay.

The centerpiece of the park is the interpretive nature center, a striking structure that will be built into a hillside.

Denton Turner, manager for park planning, said the design retains the natural look of the area and will not block any views. Placing the building partially underground is somewhat more expensive, but the county expects to save money through lower heating and cooling costs.

“We wanted to make sure what visitors saw of the site wasn’t blocked by a building,” Turner said. “By tucking it into a hillside, it takes advantage of the very panoramic views of the bay.”

The nature center will offer visitors information about the various birds, fish and wildlife that make up the bay ecosystem. It will also include exhibits of fossils and provide information about the Native Americans who once lived in the area.

The center--along with the planting of native foliage--is part of an effort by the county to create parks that give visitors a sense of what Orange County looked like before the dramatic postwar urbanization.

“We find it’s very popular with people to preserve the best of Orange County,” Fisher said. “It’s re-creating some of the nature that got away from us.”

But finding the money to pay for other proposed park developments remains a challenge. The county wants to build another nature center and plant native vegetation at the 104-acre Harriett M. Wieder Regional Park, named for the former supervisor and located near the Bolsa Chica wetlands in Huntington Beach.

The first phase of the project would cost about $2 million, yet the county has only a fraction of that available right now. Fisher said he doubted the nature center will be built without outside support.

“You can only do that with donations,” he said. “I envision a fund-raising campaign.”

The prospect of further delays frustrates some nearby residents.

“We’re sitting here with baited breath wondering if this is going to ever happen,” said Buck Marrs, an open-space advocate who lives near the park site. “People are anxious. . . . We’ve been waiting for years. They were supposed to start work last year, then the bankruptcy hit.”

But Marrs said he would to settle for fewer recreational amenities if would reduce costs.

Another ambitious project in limbo is the proposed expansion of the Talbert Nature Preserve, which the county hopes will one day run from its existing location in the bluffs of western Costa Mesa down to the mouth of the Santa Ana River in Newport Beach.

Park officials envision the development of an “ecological staircase” that would allow hikers to observe the changing ecosystem of the river as it rises up from the ocean, through wetlands and into the grassy bluffs.

Though most of the needed land is expected to be donated to the county, Fisher said money is still needed to restore wetlands and make other improvements.

The county also has plans to develop a regional park on a portion of the Tustin Marine Corps Helicopter Air Station, perhaps incorporating one of the base’s two massive blimp hangars. But no detailed plans for the site have been drafted.

Despite the obstacles, Fisher expressed optimism that all four park plans will eventually come to fruition, even if it takes extra time.

He said the public has traditionally been willing to pay for quality park service, noting volunteer efforts to raise funds and keep trails clean.

“We have seen a good deal of evidence that people are willing to help us,” Fisher said. “In terms of the continuing expansion of the park system, it will require much of the same.”

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

Bay Watch

Plans call for center built into hillside. New bike trail opens this month.