Scouting the Park

RANCHO SANTA MARGARITA — In one corner, there’s the Sonoma Court neighborhood, a friendly rural community where folks make a practice of attending PTA meetings, holding block parties and making friends with the people next door.

Across the street among the trees and trails of O’Neill Regional Park, the Boy Scouts of America wants to build a 4-acre recreation and training center to teach youngsters an appreciation of the environment.

In this conflict between two groups as all-American as mom and apple pie, both sides say they are pro-ecology.

Neighborhood residents and local environmentalists are against the $2.3-million project, which they fear will shatter peace in the 3,100-acre park.

They also cite concerns that the project would establish a disturbing precedent by allowing a private, nonprofit group to use public land.

“A lot of us moved here to get away from it all,” said resident Lori Heybruch. “It all comes down to peace and quiet.”

Residents strongly object to plans for a swimming pool, archery and BB-gun ranges and a pair of 2,500-square-foot buildings in the proposed center that could accommodate as many as 300 youngsters.

“Shock is pretty much an accurate term of my reaction to the magnitude of the development,” said David Skinner, a neighborhood resident and council president of the Community Lutheran Church, which is next door to the proposed Scout complex. “I really felt like it was turning a wilderness area into a developed entertainment complex for the Boy Scouts.”

Although three housing developments are in the vicinity, the 130-home Sonoma Court neighborhood is the closest, separated from the regional park by a small, residential street.

The park completes an idyllic picture for homeowners.

“I have three children and can walk from my house to the gate at O’Neill Park, into a canyon and have absolute solitude,” said Gary Thompson, who lives about 200 yards from the park. “It’s a place I can take my kids and see woodpeckers on the trees.”

But proximity to wilderness is also attractive to the Scouts.

The site is “close to relatively wild areas and at the same time, we can tie into infrastructure like sewer lines,” said Craig Reide, director of administration for the Orange County Council of the Boy Scouts of America in Costa Mesa. “We really need a place in Orange County to train adult leaders and help new families realize that Scouting can be for them.”

The Scouts recently received conceptual approval from the county Harbors, Beaches and Parks Commission, but ultimately must win support for a detailed project plan from the county Board of Supervisors.

Reide points out that residents already put up with traffic and noise from an 800-student school run by an Episcopal church a short distance from the site off El Camino Montana. The swimming pool, BB-gun and archery ranges are needed to make camp enjoyable for young Scouts, he added.

About 94,000 Orange County boys are in the Scout program. The nearest training and recreational center is leased from the Marines at Camp Pendleton, in northern San Diego County.

In the long run, the center will help the environment by showing the adults of tomorrow how to preserve the wilderness, Reide said.

“Everybody is going to have a different perception of how the park serves them,” he said. “I guess we see it as being an educational site where Orange County can help us build values for future generations.”

Local environmentalists say they’re concerned for the future as well.

“The precedent-setting nature of this proposal is disturbing to me,” said Pete DiSimone, who runs the Audubon Society’s 4,000-acre Starr Ranch Sanctuary in nearby Dove Canyon. “I don’t feel that every proposal that comes to the county from a private organization should be denied, but where do we draw the line?”

Charlie Vogelheim, a Rancho Santa Margarita scoutmaster who brings Cub Scout packs into the park, admits to feeling conflicted over the issue.

“The naturalist side of me says, ‘Don’t touch it,’ ” Vogelheim said. “The family-guy-raising-the-boys side of me says we have to find a place in Orange County for a [Scout complex].”

Despite the conflict, both sides said they came away from a joint meeting attended by about 100 residents last week with a grudging respect for each other.

The Scouts will continue to pursue the complex in O’Neill Park, but after meeting with residents: “Frankly, we are going to look at our options and alternatives” for another site, said Mike Harrison, chairman of the Scout site search committee. “We don’t want to wind up in such a battle with so many people that the prize isn’t worth it.”

Residents, including Heybruch, said they have been impressed by the Scouts’ candor.

“They asked to come to make a presentation to the homeowners, and I felt like they were at least being honest,” she said. “When we asked about traffic impacts, they were honest about it and said they hadn’t done the studies yet, instead of hemming and hawing. I was impressed by their honesty.”

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NEIGHBORHOODS:SONOMA COURT Bounded by: El Camino Montano to the east and Via Con Dios on the west

Population: About 130 homes

Hot topic: A proposal by the Boy Scouts of America to build a 4-acre training and recreation complex in O’Neill Regional Park