DANA POINT : Builder Offers to Put Trails in City Parkland

A local developer will ask the City Council to allow him to install a public trail system on undeveloped city property adjacent to his land instead of paying $55,000 in park fees.

The unusual proposal would allow Paul Douglas, owner of eight custom home sites on a hillside above the intersection of Stonehill Drive and Selva Road, to install the trail system on four acres of land below his property.

The defunct Capistrano Bay Park and Recreation District, which dissolved and merged with the city in late 1993, bought the hillside park property in May, 1993, from Hon Development Co. for $650,000. The property is now owned by the city and designated as future parkland.

Douglas said his idea is to do a biological survey of the parkland and then install some trails and plaques identifying the flora and fauna, as well as a series of benches and viewing platforms. The plan was approved unanimously by the city’s eight-member Community Services Commission on April 6 but still must be approved by the council at a future date.

“The intent is to preserve the natural wildlife,” Douglas said. “This would be strictly a pedestrian park, with no public parking. You would have to walk in from the community.”

Douglas estimates that the trail installation would cost him $75,000 to $80,000. But the added benefit to his adjacent home sites would be worth the extra cost, Douglas said.