Bond Would Double Size of Wilderness Park

A wilderness park in the Whittier Hills would more than double in size if county voters approve an $817-million bond issue in November, preserving indefinitely some of the last prime hillside land untouched by development in eastern Los Angeles County.

The county bond issue would set aside $15 million to add about 300 acres to Whittier’s 200-acre Hellman Park and preserve it as wilderness. Land would be bought with $10 million of the bond, and $5 million would go toward such park improvements as trails, picnic facilities, parking lots and access roads. Whittier would be responsible for maintenance.

The extension of Hellman Park would stretch across a hillside noted for steep, rugged canyons, 150-year-old oaks and sycamores and a climate of cool, moist nights and dry, balmy days.

“It’s really a special area,” said Dave Cowardin, president of Friends of the Whittier Hills, a conservation group that has long sought to bar development in the hills. “It’s an interface between the coastal basin, which experiences fog, and the desert. It’s unique as an example of what was once common in the Puente Hills.”

Whittier Mayor Thomas K. Sawyer and Councilman Robert F. Woehrmann attended the County Board of Supervisors meeting Tuesday to lobby for the parks measure, as did Assistant City Manager Manny Ocampo.

Ocampo said developers and major landowners have not opposed the idea thus far because their land would be bought at market value.

The bond issue would be paid for by increased property taxes, an average increase of $10 a year for a property with an assessed value of $125,000, said Esther Feldman, spokeswoman for the Mountains Recreation and Conservation Authority, which wrote the bond issue after consulting with political and civic leaders across the county.

Three groups compose Feldman’s organization: the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy, the Conejo Recreation and Park District and the Rancho Simi Recreation and Park District.

The bond issue includes money for parks and recreation programs in all county cities and also specifies particular projects, such as the Whittier Hills, for special financing.

Feldman said the park idea fit perfectly into what the bond issue seeks to accomplish, because the hills are a regional resource whose preservation has strong public and private support.

The land has been so desirable that only a unique combination of factors has left more than 2,500 acres of these hills intact.

Conservationist Cowardin said that most of the terrain has a slope of 50 degrees or more: “That’s unbuildable for most people. And the Whittier earthquake fault moves right through there.”

In addition, Rose Hills Memorial Park Assn. owns large sections of nearby hillsides and has maintained open space around its cemetery.

Another factor limiting building has been Whittier’s longstanding hillside ordinance to prevent overdevelopment of the hills.

Much of the hills remain unincorporated county territory and thus outside of Whittier’s direct control.

“It’s not just an anti-development issue,” said Councilwoman Helen McKenna-Rahder said. “It’s a pro-preservation issue. In Whittier, we have an area that gives us an ocean breeze and an edge on the smog and the traffic.”