SAN JUAN CAPISTRANO : Report Finds a Lag in City Park Policy

Results released this week from a recently completed study on the city’s park system report that the city needs a gymnasium, community center and a plan to increase public parkland.

Compared to other cities of its size, “the city’s system is below typical acreage and facility standards,” said the study by San Diego-based consultants Wallace Roberts & Todd.

The study, ordered in December by the City Council, marks the first time in 15 years that 14 parks and city recreation services would be unified under a master plan. Until now, park and recreation plans have been outlined as part of the 1974 city General Plan--a blueprint for citywide development.

“This study really defines our park system and gets everything into one cohesive plan,” Parks and Recreation Commissioner Terry Dorse said.

A key area identified in the study, Dorse said, is the need to upgrade developer-fee rates. The fees are charged on a per-acre basis when the builder chooses to pay the city instead of providing usable parkland in conjunction with a project.

The last time the fees were raised was 1980, according to the study. The Parks and Recreation Commission voted Monday to investigate developer fees charged by cities comparable in size and to revise the prices accordingly.

Dorse also said the city would start asking developers to donate more usable park acreage instead of paying the fees.

“When we have a development with a usable, flat space, we’re going to look harder at those areas,” Dorse said. “It can do more for us in the future when you consider the price of land today.”

One area targeted by officials for park development is a site in the Los Rios Street Historic District that is occupied by a storage yard for a local garbage pickup business.

Other areas earmarked for public facilities are a hill overlooking the new Marbella Golf & Country Club, a five-acre parcel along San Juan Creek in the east end of the city, farmland adjoining Marco F. Forster Junior High on Camino del Avion, a planned swimming pool and gymnasium at Capistrano Valley High School and a planned county regional park to be built near the county-run Prima Deshecha landfill.

The study praised the city for its extensive hiking and equestrian trail system, which links ridgelines surrounding the Capistrano Valley.