Carlsbad Park Plan Splits the Community

There it was, this breezy stretch of land in Carlsbad, just enough to guarantee the tranquility Miriam Lerner and her husband had yearned for after all those years of living in Los Angeles.

But almost five years into the couple’s blissful retirement, the 22 acres that have helped keep the world at bay may be in for a few changes. Such as soccer and baseball fields, tennis and basketball courts, barbecue pits, trails, bathrooms and parking.

“It’ll be a literal zoo around here,” Miriam Lerner grumped.

The city’s proposal to turn this little comfort zone into a $2.7-million happening place for competitive sports and family recreation isn’t quite what the neighborhood expected, let alone what many residents wanted.

And therein lies the conflict of suburban priorities: While some folks see the open space as a nirvana of silence, others make equal claim to it as a sacred place for their children to triumphantly slide into home plate.

As if emotions weren’t running high enough over this patch of earth, one member of the city’s Park and Recreation Commission, himself in his 70s, recently told the Lerners and protesters that, if they didn’t like the plan, they should move into a retirement home.

“We all booed and hissed,” recalled Art Wood, one of the retired residents of the neighborhood.

Lerner, referring to the commission, said, “I’ve never seen such an arrogant and opinionated group of people.”

Nobody suspected it would ever come to this: angry words, recriminations and petitions against the park plan. After all, at least on paper, the property has been eyed as the future Larwin Park for nearly 20 years.

Although the area--east of Interstate 5, just north of Elm Avenue--evolved from country outback to cul-de-sacs over the past five to 10 years, it still features some grassy hills and views. Just the right place for community enjoyment, is how city officials figure it.

“I’d rather have kids playing in a park than leaving no place to go and nothing to do and finding alternatives that are less desirable,” said Kim Welshons, chairwoman of the Park and Recreation Commission.

As far back as 1972, the city’s blueprint for growth called for active and passive uses of the 22 acres dedicated as parkland by the developers of the surrounding dwellings.

Ten years later, updated city plans outlined a park with a variety of sports facilities and trails, according to David Bradstreet, director of the Carlsbad Parks and Recreation Department.

But these ambitious plans didn’t go far during the ‘80s. In fact, Bradstreet had serious doubts whether the narrow, curving site had much potential as a park.

“To me, it’s steep and would be an expensive piece of property to develop,” he said. Besides, at that point the city’s didn’t have enough money to tinker with the property, although local sports organizations were coveting the site.

“As far as I was concerned at the time, we were going to leave it as it was,” Bradstreet said. “People who wanted a passive park were happy, and those who wanted active (uses) were unhappy.”

That all changed in 1986, when Carlsbad’s new growth management plan demanded more parks for both passive and active use, such as a combination of trails and picnic areas with playing fields.

The Park and Recreation Commission took another look at the long-ignored 22 acres and decided, after hiring a consultant, that the land could be developed into an elaborate park if sufficient grading was done and other measures were taken.

To the Lerners and others who live on Concord and Vancouver streets nearest to the property, this business about courts and playing fields fundamentally violated their understanding that the land would be little more than trails.

Residents say they were told by neighbors and real estate agents who sold them homes that the park was destined for passive use.

“This will forever change this quiet, peaceful neighborhood,” said Winnie Averill, who lives a few blocks away and predicts that the homes closest to the park will be devalued.

But city officials claim there was never any guarantee the land would forever remain empty.

“Our philosophy in Carlsbad is large parks but fewer of them, minimum 20 acres, with both active and passive activities,” Bradstreet said.

If there is a misunderstanding, it was probably caused by real estate agents eager to make sales and buyers who failed to check with City Hall about the land. “Buyer beware; don’t trust whoever sold you your home,” said Welshons.

The park plan will be considered by the city Planning Commission in April and probably will go before the City Council for final approval in October. Bradstreet hopes the park will be completed in December, 1992.

But it won’t come without a fight.

Neighbors--fearing noise, loitering, illegal parking and congestion--have already descended on city officials. Nearly 100 residents packed the recent Park and Recreation Commission meeting when the project was approved and passed on to the Planning Commission.

Lerner, who lived in Los Angeles for 26 years before settling in Carlsbad, is already fretting about paradise lost.

“You can smell the air out here,” she said, looking over her back-yard fence at the empty land.

Wood, her neighbor, pointed to a street on the west side of the park property and said, “People down there are trying to sell already, hoping they can get out before the bulldozers move in.”