LAGUNA HILLS : Fund Crunch to Shut Iglesia Park Center

Because of dwindling funds, county officials have decided to close the community center at Iglesia Community Park, effective Jan. 1.

Ken Scattergood, administrator of special districts for Orange County, said the ranger and office assistant who have worked at the center will be reassigned to other county parks.

“There is just not enough revenue to staff it,” Scattergood said.

Property taxes from a special assessment district that were used to maintain the 12-year-old park and community center have been shifted in the last two years to newly incorporated Laguna Hills and the state, Scattergood said.

Property owners in North Laguna Hills and Leisure World, who have been paying $15 per parcel a year to maintain Iglesia and four other area parks, were asked by county officials earlier this year if they would be willing to pay an annual parcel tax of $50 to keep the community center open. The property owners, most of whom are in Leisure World, overwhelmingly rejected the idea, Scattergood said.

The community center will still be available to private groups and organizations on a permit basis.

The rest of the park, which includes two baseball diamonds, play equipment and a small native-plants garden maintained by volunteers, will remain open to the public.

The 6.2-acre park is in an unincorporated area along Via Iglesia, just off Moulton Parkway.

Its annual operation and maintenance costs have been about $200,000. By closing the community center, the county can save about $120,000, Scattergood said.

“Over the last six months, we’ve attempted to transfer operation of the community center to another agency, a school district, the city of Laguna Hills or a youth athletic organization, and nobody has had the financial wherewithal to do it,” he said.

Dave Lewis, Laguna Hills’ parks and recreation director, said that the discussions were only on a staff level and that he would be interested in talking further with county officials.

“The city has never been disinterested in taking over the park,” he said.

“It was all verbal. There was nothing in writing.”

Consideration of Laguna Hills taking over Iglesia--which is legally possible even though the park lies outside the city limits--would depend on a number of complicated factors, including the city’s interest in annexing the unincorporated North Laguna Hills area, Lewis said.

Laguna Hills has no fields for organized sports and only in the last month approved plans to construct a park with combination baseball and soccer fields in the Nellie Gail Ranch area.