City to Limit Access to Laguna Greenbelt : Conservation: Protection of wildlife habitats is a higher priority than recreation, City Council decides.

The City Council endorsed a plan Tuesday for about 2,500 acres of publicly owned open space that would protect sensitive wildlife habitats by limiting public access to the land.

As proposed, the plan would keep most of Coastal Greenbelt Wilderness Park off limits to mountain bikes, unsupervised hikers, dogs and horses. Guided tours may be allowed as early as spring.

The plan now goes before a panel set up to govern the park. If approved March 11, the plan could for several years determine activity on the greenbelt that rims Laguna Beach.

The council’s unanimous decision was made after a public hearing, during which most speakers agreed that protection of wildlife habitats deserves a higher consideration than early public access.

“I urge you to resist pressure to provide too-early access to the park,” resident Sharon Heath said.

Environmentalists said the restrictions set forth in the proposal are needed for the land to remain undisturbed, at least until biologists can recommend which areas can withstand various activities.

Elisabeth Brown, a member of the Coastal Greenbelt Authority--the panel set up to govern the park--said that while people are eager to roam the land, it is important not to “love it to death.”

“At this point, we don’t know how much we can love it,” Brown said. “The public is going to be enjoying this land a lot sooner than anyone could have expected just a couple years ago, but right now it’s closed, and the best thing anybody can do is to not go out there until it has been determined where the best places are that can take people.”

The land in question includes the Laguna Laurel property, Sycamore Hills, Laguna Heights and part of the Irvine Coast. Hikers and bicyclists are now allowed only in Laguna Heights, which is near the Top of the World neighborhood.

Sycamore Hills is open to hikers once a month during selected months. The rest of the land has been closed to the public.

Gary Schwager, vice president of the Top of the World Neighborhood Assn., said it is unfair for the property in that area to suffer the brunt of activity, so his group favors tough regulations for all the land.

Schwager said more people are likely to flood his area if all others remain restricted.

Top of the World residents “are very concerned about what appeared to be the lack of hard information as to the amount of use (in Laguna Heights) and the impact of that use,” he said. “I think you have to face the fact that they’re flying blind.”