Voters Taken on Walk-Talk Canyon Tours : Measure H: 600 people were guided through Laguna Laurel area in bid to win support for a $20-million bond issue on the Nov. 6 Laguna Beach ballot.

For years, Laguna Beach resident Sandy Schwarzstein, 51, had seen Laguna Canyon from her car while driving along Laguna Canyon Road. But not until Saturday did she learn what the canyon really looks like.

“I am very impressed with it,” she said as she stood in a serene sycamore grove far removed from Laguna Canyon Road. “South Orange County is so overloaded right now with developments and housing that I think it would be very sad to see this property go.”

Hal Werthy, a 60-year-old Laguna Beach resident, also had his first on-site view of the canyon. But he seemed unimpressed with the land and was leaning against Laguna Beach’s plan to buy the land from the Irvine Co. for $78 million.

“It’s a typical, Southern California, semi-desert property,” he said from a hilltop.

And the five-year financing plan, Werthy said, still has “too many ifs, ands and maybes.”

Schwarzstein and Werthy were among about 600 people who toured the property in a campaign effort to win support for Measure H, a $20-million bond measure on the city’s Nov. 6 ballot.

If approved by two-thirds of the voters, the bond money would help meet the first $33-million installment, due next June, to buy the land. If the buyout fails, the Irvine Co. will proceed with plans to build 3,200 homes in the canyon area known as Laguna Laurel.

The views of Schwarzstein and Werthy represent the core arguments on the two sides of the bond issue. Proponents are urging voters to consider what the canyon would look like if the Irvine Co. built the homes. Using an emotional appeal, the committee has argued for wildlife preservation instead of suburban sprawl.

But opponents, largely made up of members of the Laguna Beach Taxpayers Assn., are asking voters to put aside heartfelt emotions for the canyon and consider that financing for the purchase has not been nailed down.

The taxpayer group also maintains that while the city would be taking a great financial risk, it would probably not control the 2,150-acre site even if it is purchased.

Different concerns were raised by Bill Powers, 53, who hiked through the endangered coastal sage, cactus plants and other plant life with his daughter, Suzy, 11.

Preserving the canyon is “one of those things you cannot argue with,” Powers said. “It’s motherhood and apple pie.”

But he said he would not vote for Measure H unless he feels certain that the land would become a wilderness park.

“If Laguna buys it and gives it to the county, then who’s to say the county isn’t going to come out and build a golf course on it?” he asked.

Michael Phillips, executive director of Laguna Greenbelt Inc. and Laguna Canyon Conservancy, two environmental groups involved in talks to buy the land, said Powers need not worry.

While the city, county, the Irvine Co. and environmental groups have not decided who would manage the open space--it would probably be the county and state--officials insist that the land would be open to the public for “passive recreational” use.

Ironically, the clap and thunder of hundreds of human feet walking through the canyon Saturday drove away the ground squirrels and other animal life normally seen on the property, biologist Allen Brown said.

“If you were to come up here by yourself with one or two other people, bring your lunch, sit back against one of the trees and (use) a pair of binoculars, it would be amazing the number of animals you would see,” Brown said.

Although many of the tourists showed their support for the bond measure by wearing “Save Laguna Canyon” stickers, Phillips said the campaign committee hoped that the public tours would not be a preaching to the choir but instead result in new converts.

“To the extent that anyone wanted to take advantage of this to see what they are getting, I think we are all be better served for that,” he said.