State Panel OKs $6-Million Park in Upper Newport Bay : Recreation: Site will include an educational center on 113-acre parcel owned by county. Area will be replanted and hiking and equestrian trails will be built.

The California Coastal Commission on Friday approved a county plan to convert a 113-acre parcel of undeveloped land at the edge of Upper Newport Bay into a regional park, complete with a gravel parking lot and an educational center for visitors.

The $6-million plan passed by a 7-1 vote, despite opposition from a group of Newport Beach residents, most of whom live across Irvine Avenue from the project and have for many years used the land as a place to ride horses, walk dogs and ride mountain bikes.

“They have used the park exclusively for years,” Bob Fisher, the county’s director of Parks, Beaches and Recreation, said of the opponents. “They didn’t want to share it.”

Coastal Commission approval of the regional park plan was the last major hurdle before construction could begin. The project was approved last year by the city of Newport Beach and the county. The land is owned by the county.

The educational center, planned on 10,000 square feet of land cut into a hillside, is the centerpiece of the project. It will contain displays explaining bay archeology and the natural and biological history of the area.

Fisher said the county will produce renderings of the educational center within six months and plans to replant the area before moving forward with construction.

“We have an opportunity here, I think, to create an area which can be preserved and still provide” for recreational use, said Commissioner Dorill Wright, who voted for the project. “We are also going to have the (visitor’s) center, which will provide a great educational opportunity for our children.”

In addition to replanting the area, the county will be required to add erosion-control measures. A network of groomed hiking and equestrian trails will be built to limit the recreational use of the environmentally sensitive land, according to a Coastal Commission report on the project.

The site--currently a large, empty lot where coastal sage scrub and chaparral grow among worn footpaths and eroded ravines--is home to endangered animals such as the brown pelican and the bald eagle.

To protect the natural resources, park users will not be allowed to wander off trails, and dogs will be required to stay on leashes, according to the county plan. The park will be staffed daily from 7 a.m. to sunset.