Land trust to raise bridge funds

Visitors to the Bolsa Chica Ecological Reserve often face a dangerous walk past the roaring traffic of Warner Avenue, something members of the Bolsa Chica Land Trust notice every time they take packs of school children on a tour of the wetlands. So when a plan to create a safer way into the wetlands faced financial problems, they decided to help bridge the gap.

The state put in money three years ago to build a separate footbridge and keep walkers safe, but delays pushed up the price tag beyond what it could pay. Even tens of thousands of dollars chipped in by the county government weren’t enough, so the land trust decided to raise the last $75,000 itself, a task it must finish by December before the state money evaporates.

“Certain funds, if you don’t spend them, you lose them,” said the land trust’s executive director Flossie Horgan. “It has to get built, and we have to do it now.”

Entrepreneur Howie Makler, who lives in the Huntington Harbour area just a few blocks from where Warner Avenue passes the interpretive center, says the area has always seemed dangerous to him. That’s why he and investment partner John Trommald donated $10,000 to the campaign last week as soon as they heard about it.

“Remember the game ‘Frogger’?” he said, referencing the classic arcade game in which a frog tries to dodge cars while hopping across a crowded highway. “I swear to God, this is a live-action version of that.”

Three years ago, the state granted $161,000 to fully fund a bridge across the Outer Bolsa Bay, but the project hit some bumps, said Jeff Stoddard, a wildlife biologist at the California Department of Fish and Game who manages part of the Bolsa Chica Ecological reserve. State codes required a bigger bridge than originally planned, a sturdy metal structure that still won’t harm the ecosystem. While engineers redrew the plans, building costs shot up to $300,000, he said.

“It was originally going to be a single footbridge,” he said. “But code requirements wanted it to be a bridge large enough to hold a vehicle,” even if the bridge isn’t meant for cars.

Makler and neighbor Trommald, a retirement and estate planning lawyer, plan to build condos across the street from where the bridge will be, and they jog through the Bolsa Chica all the time, Trommald said. As a result, the men see the danger every day.

“It’s not just people like us” who walk on the street, he said. “There are little kids’ field trips going across all the time. They park at the interpretive center and walk across Warner.”

The large donation came as a welcome surprise, Horgan said. Several smaller contributions have come in as well, she added.

“They just thought, it’s time to step up as citizens,” she said. “The Bolsa Chica Land Trust is totally excited.”

For more information about the campaign, call (714) 846-1001, or go to www.bolsachicalandtrust.org.