Naming Coastal Park May Be No Picnic, Either

After years of wrangling to preserve chunks of open space that have been pieced together as a “super-park,” a lesser struggle is now brewing over what to name the 10,000-acre blanket of wilderness.

For the moment, the crescent-shaped parcel, which hugs Laguna Beach and stretches inland 7 miles from the coast, is being called Coastal Greenbelt Regional Park. Its permanent name, however, is still in question.

As many as 50 possible names have already surfaced, according to one member of a committee that will help decide the winner.

The name “means a lot to people because (the park) is so darn big,” added Ken Bruner, an aide to Supervisor Thomas F. Riley. “It behooves us to be careful and name it something befitting its greatness.”

The coastal parcel is unusual in that it will be the first Orange County park owned both by the county and a city, in this case Laguna Beach. In addition, a number of groups and individuals claim a stake in the hard-fought-for park.

At the center of the debate are members of the Coastal Greenbelt Authority, a four-member panel created to manage the parcel, which extends north to Crystal Cove State Park and south to Aliso and Wood Canyons Regional Park. Representatives from both the county and Laguna Beach sit on the panel.

This month, the group is expected to formally begin considering names for the park. Although county officials say it has been relatively simple to label county parks in the past, naming this one could be a tad trickier. The process could easily take six months, Bruner said.

Names suggested so far include Orange County Coastal Greenbelt Park, Laguna and Laurel Canyons Regional Park, San Joaquin Hills Regional Park and Coastal Canyons Wilderness Park.

“I think we’re going to have a lot more (names) before the smoke clears,” said Buck Johns, a Newport Beach resident who sits on the panel. “I’d sure like to see us get creative about this thing.”

Claiming a historical stake in the land is Laguna Greenbelt Inc., a group formed in 1968 to preserve a buffer of wilderness around Laguna Beach. That “greenbelt” has become the cornerstone of the new park.

Laguna Greenbelt members have voted overwhelmingly for “Laguna Greenbelt Wilderness Park.”

“There would be no park at all without the concept of the Laguna Greenbelt, which was set up 23 years ago,” said Elisabeth Brown, Laguna Greenbelt president and Coastal Greenbelt Authority member. “In any other rational society, one would say, ‘We finally have the park, let’s call it what it was always intended to be.’ ”

To erase the words Laguna Greenbelt from the final name would be to detach the park from its history, Brown said.

“I think we should be very careful not to abandon a place’s name when it’s so strongly identified with an area,” she said. “Just calling it something else is not going to erase the controversy.”

But there is some resistance to identifying the park, which is meant to serve the entire county, so closely with one city.

Since the word greenbelt has considerable support, it will likely be a part of the permanent name, said Bruner, the county’s representative on the authority. However, he added, “what else gets wrapped around it . . . I’m not sure.”

Brown said she fears that Laguna may be edged out of the park name because the city has bucked the county on many issues over the years.

“I don’t think we should abandon the name just because some people don’t like the politics of Laguna Beach,” Brown said.

Another factor in naming the park is how that name will be perceived by prospective donors whose contributions are needed to purchase some of the parkland. If the name is carefully chosen, more people are likely to ante up, said Mary Fegraus, director of Laguna Canyon Foundation.

“Of course we were concerned that the name reflects that it is a regional park,” Fegraus said. “It’s interesting because they’re trying to be sure the name is generic enough to cover all the different areas.”

The authority will sift through the list of names and eventually make its recommendation. Anyone with a suggestion can forward it to Barbara Doerr, project manager with the county Harbors, Beaches and Parks department, at (714) 568-4977.