Public’s Raging Need for Nature

Despite hours of complex and sometimes heated testimony last week, the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors need only remember three facts as it ponders plans by the Raging Waters theme park to expand into more of Bonelli Regional Park.

First, the county has a dearth, not a surplus, of free public recreational resources.

Second, the 1,800-acre Bonelli Park, bordered by San Dimas, La Verne and Pomona, is the county’s largest urban park. More than 1 million people use it each year. Raging Waters already occupies 49 acres of parkland and wants to more than triple that to 160 acres. That expansion would mean the loss of hiking trails, open space and wildlife habitat not easily replaced.

Third, the county’s obligation with respect to Raging Waters’ proposal--or that from any other private operator--is primarily as steward of public recreational resources. The supervisors’ goal should be to enhance resources for all taxpayers, not to maximize return to the county treasury through lease agreements with profit-making concessionaires.

The Raging Waters aquatic park opened its doors in 1983 after taking over an outdated swim facility. Now a popular attraction, Raging Waters wants to add shops, restaurants, parking spaces and a 1,000-seat amphitheater to its water slides and pools. The expanded facility would be expected to draw more than 600,000 customers each year.

The theme park now pays the county $859,936 annually for the ground lease; an expansion of about 110 acres would bring the total payment to $1.6 million. That money is no doubt tempting.

Raging Waters, already the largest water park west of the Mississippi, argues that it has significantly scaled back its original expansion plans. But those good-faith efforts are not a sound reason to put more irreplaceable public open space behind a turnstile.

The board has postponed its vote on this proposal until early next year. In the meantime, we urge every supervisor to take a walk in Bonelli Park some quiet afternoon, listen to the birds, take in the vistas . . . and then contemplate less of that.