DANA POINT : Park District OKs $3.4-Million Budget

The Capistrano Bay Park and Recreation District has given preliminary approval to a $3.4-million operating budget for fiscal year 1991-92 that increases spending by about $500,000 from last year.

The district, which operates and maintains parks and recreation services in Dana Point, also will have a development and acquisitions budget of $2 million, said David Lewis, the park district administrator.

“We hope to go out and buy some new park sites this year,” Lewis said.

Some property on Camino del Avion, west of Street of the Golden Lantern, is being considered, as well as some smaller parcels throughout the city, he said.

“We would really like to find some land for a tennis court in Capistrano Beach,” Lewis said. “At this time we have no public tennis courts in the Capistrano Beach area, and we’d like to rectify that.”

Among the other park improvement projects Lewis said the board has tentatively scheduled for the next fiscal year are:

* New landscaping for the median strips along Street of the Golden Lantern at an estimated cost of $300,000.

* Paying $70,000 to install polymers in the turf throughout the parks to save water.

* Installing about $40,000 in tot play equipment at Dana Crest Park.

The district will also begin a free recreation program for the handicapped this fall, Lewis said.

A public hearing on the budget will be held July 18. By law, the final budget must be adopted on or before Aug. 10.