COSTA MESA : City Rejects Proposal to Build Golf Course

The city this week soundly rejected a county proposal to turn the mostly undeveloped Fairview Park into an 18-hole golf course.

The county made the proposal after biologists concluded that the land south of the city’s 200-acre parcel bordering the Santa Ana River could not be converted to a wetlands area, said Robert Fisher, director of the county Department of Harbors, Beaches and Parks. Private golf course developers wanted to turn the land into a golf course, but the county’s parcel is not big enough alone to hold such a course.

The developers were so eager to add golf course space to the area that they were willing to build and maintain it at no cost to the city, Fisher said. One proposal called for developers receiving preferred tee times in exchange for developing the greens.

“The city might have made some money from it, and the revenue from the county could have been used to maintain the wetlands downstream from the property, but that funding will not be available to us,” Fisher said.

The city, when it bought the land from the county about six years ago, intended for the property to be left as natural as possible, City Manager Allan L. Roeder said. At that time, the county had considered converting the land into campsites, lighted softball fields, parking lots and motor trails.

The city has built walking trails, picnic areas and a parking lot in the first phase of the park’s development.

Science teacher Gilbert Collins takes his classes from Estancia High School on frequent walks through the park to study the its wildlife and other features, including an archeological site dating back about 5,000 years.

“There’s a lot out there that is of interest geologically, historically and ecologically,” he said.

Still, Fisher doubts whether the general public will get as much use out of the land under the city’s plan.

“There’s a question of how wise it is to leave property pretty much vacant if you don’t get much public use out of it,” Fisher said.