Second Yorba Linda Location Considered for Nixon Library

Officials of the Richard M. Nixon Presidential Archives Foundation are considering a second Yorba Linda location for a Nixon library while San Clemente city officials continue their lengthy review of a proposed oceanfront site.

North Orange County Community College District trustees have discussed with foundation officials a 193-acre parcel on Fairmont Boulevard that is owned by the district. Foundation officials have already studied a city-owned parcel next to Nixon’s Yorba Linda birthplace and former home.

College board president Chris Loumakis said Friday that trustees will consider several uses for the Fairmont Boulevard land, including expansion of the district’s adult education center already located there.

“We (board members) informally agreed there might be mutual educational and community advantages to having the Nixon library there,” Loumakis said.

He cautioned, however, that the district’s action is not a formal proposal and that talks with foundation officials were only “explorative and informational.”

Discussions with the college district marks the second time in a month that foundation members have considered building the library in Yorba Linda.

Some foundation officials--miffed at San Clemente’s meticulous deliberations over the proposed 253-acre oceanfront development that would include a Nixon library--met with Yorba Linda City Manager Arthur C. Simonian on July 17 to discuss city-owned property next to the one-acre home where Nixon was born. That site has been designated a historical landmark.

Loumakis said that he and college district Chancellor James Kellerman toured the Fairmont Boulevard site July 31 with foundation member Robert Finch, who was secretary of Health, Education and Welfare during the first Nixon Administration.

“He (Finch) said he was favorably impressed with the site, but he did indicate that San Clemente was the primary site and that the foundation could not consider any formal proposals until a decision was made in San Clemente,” Loumakis said.

Finch was on vacation and unavailable for comment. However, Loumakis said that Finch had visited the college site several times with other Nixon Archives members.

Although the San Clemente City Council approved a 16.7-acre, bluff-top site for the library in 1984, foundation members decided not to seek California Coastal Commission certification to build the $25-million library until the city approved the entire 253-acre development, proposed by the Lusk Co. of Irvine.

The City Council is scheduled to meet Wednesday to continue its review of the oceanfront development, known as the Marblehead Coastal Plan. At an Aug. 5 meeting, council members said they needed two or three more sessions before they would be ready to vote on the coastal development. The council is expected to review plans for grading the site’s 100-foot-high bluffs at its regular Wednesday meeting.

Meanwhile, Loumakis called the library a potential “historical treasure” for Yorba Linda, whether it is built on city or college district property.

“Our perspective is (that) we’re not competing,” he said.

San Clemente may approve the project, he said, which would end speculation about where the library will be built.

The college district site would complement the library because of the adult education center already located there, according to Loumakis. Aesthetically, the property offers a wide view of the Orange County coast “on a clear day,” Loumakis said.

Yorba Linda is also “politically a very hospitable environment,” he added.

Loumakis said that all 193 acres of the college district site are not needed for educational activities, so college trustees may also consider recreational and residential development.

But he added:

“We want to maintain the educational integrity of the site, and we think a presidential library does.”

Foundation members have said they prefer the San Clemente site because it overlooks the promontory of Nixon’s one-time Western White House.