COSTA MESA : City Seeks Comment on Future of Parks

Public comment on the city’s park system will be sought at a series of workshops to be conducted this month to help the city prepare a 20-year plan for its parks and recreation facilities.

The city has hired a consultant to work out the $100,000 master plan of parks with information gathered from residents in the workshops.

“We’re basically pulling together our master plan, which will take us through the year 2010,” said Chuck Carr, city recreation superintendent. “The whole purpose of asking the needs of the citizens is to find out what their desires are so that facilities can be planned.”

The first public workshop will be held Nov. 18 at 7 p.m. at the Neighborhood Community Center, 1845 Park Ave. Another meeting on Nov. 21 at 6:30 p.m. in City Hall will solicit comment from park users such as little league and soccer teams.

A third meeting targeting the Latino community is scheduled for Nov. 26 at 7 p.m. at the REA Community Center, 661 Hamilton St., Carr said. That program will be in Spanish and English.

“We know our facilities are in terrible condition,” said John De Witt, vice chairman of the Parks, Recreation Facilities and Parkways Commission. “It’s just a matter of getting the community together and telling us what they want.”

Carr, the recreation superintendent, said: “One of the things that we’re really after with this study has to do with our athletic fields. Over the years we’ve been able to build them up . . . and now we’re at a point where we need to pull that all together and find out what we need to meet the needs of the future.”