SANTA ANA : Fisher Park Vote Pulled Off Agenda

A City Council vote scheduled for Monday on a controversial plan to redesign Jack Fisher Park on Santa Ana’s north side has been postponed because the neighborhood association, the Parks and Recreation Board and the Planning Commission failed to agree on an improvement plan.

In what has been an emotionally charged debate during the past year, some residents near the 1 3/4-acre, wedge-shaped park advocated turning it into a “passive” park by replacing the log cabin, restroom and fire pit with botanical gardens.

Leaving the park in its present form, they said, invited overuse, overcrowding, litter, graffiti and unsafe conditions.

But other residents supported only minor improvements, arguing that the attempted redesign of the park was part of a thinly veiled strategy to keep non-neighborhood residents away from the area.

After several meetings with consultants, the Jack Fisher Park Neighborhood Assn. and the city staff compromised on a plan to renovate the log cabin and restrooms, upgrade the playground equipment, install a garden but still maintain a picnic area.

The compromise, however, was rejected by the Parks and Recreation Board, which voted to make as little change as possible.

Board member Barbara Considine maintained that a city with limited park space should not reduce available open space and limit park access.

“I would not want anything that deters people from using any of the parks,” she said.

The Planning Commission, on the other hand, took the opposite position by voting for a plan that effectively reduces some of the available facilities, including the elimination of the fire pit and restrooms.

Commission Chairwoman Lisa Mills said the panel acted out of concern that the restrooms--which have no doors and are open 24 hours a day--pose a security risk, even though parks officials report a low crime rate there.

“Everyone assumed that anyone could still use the park and we were not cutting off activity in the park,” Mills said. “This was a safety issue.”

With too many differing opinions, the city staff opted to pull the issue off next week’s council agenda.

Dennis Wooten, president of the Fisher Park Neighborhood Assn., said he is confident the two- to three-month postponement will result in a compromise.

Wooten said the votes by the parks board and the Planning Commission were “well-intentioned and advisory,” and probably taken without the full knowledge of the negotiations between the association and the city staff.

“The neighborhood association supports the city and the city supports us,” he said.