LAGUNA BEACH : Hilltop Park Wins Coastal Agency’s OK

An 8.5-acre hilltop park was approved by the state Coastal Commission on Thursday after a contentious public hearing, a commission official said.

Residents on both sides of the issue testified before commissioners in Long Beach who voted 7 to 3 in favor of the park.

It will provide the city’s only regulation-size baseball field and six additional tennis courts. The approval was an important hurdle for sports enthusiasts, who say the additional recreation facilities are sorely needed.

The proposal for Alta Laguna Park, which is slated to be built at the north end of Alta Laguna Boulevard in the Top of the World neighborhood, has pitted sports lovers against environmentalists and some residents, who say the park is too big for their neighborhood. During city hearings, as many as 70 people have lined up to speak for or against the plan.

“We’re very disappointed in the Coastal Commission,” said Johanna Felder, a Top of the World resident who attended the hearing. “I don’t know what else to say.”

Preservationists warn that the park will encroach upon the Laguna Greenbelt, land that the city’s General Plan says should be used for passive recreation only. The City Council found the park in conformance with the General Plan but the Planning Commission said later that it was not.