COSTA MESA : Park Planners to Get Report by Biologist
Fairview Park, where residents have enjoyed the outdoors for years, may be attracting new patrons: California gnatcatchers, small birds that are on the endangered species list.
Today the city’s Fairview Park Committee will hear from a biologist who has been studying whether gnatcatchers are nesting in the area and whether endangered plants grow in pools created there by rainfall.
The results of the study will determine how the committee proceeds in drafting a master plan for the park. “We really needed to know what kinds of constraints we are facing, if any,” said the committee’s Keith Van Holt.
The committee hopes to complete a master plan by the end of 1995.
Fairview Park is not the natural habitat of the tiny gnatcatcher, but late last year there were unconfirmed sightings of the bird in the park adjacent to Estancia High School.
The purpose of the master plan is to settle a debate over how Fairview Park should be used.
One group of residents has fought for years to keep the 250-acre park the way it is--covered with native vegetation. Others, however, complain about a lack of recreational facilities in Costa Mesa and would like to see the open space turned into athletic fields.
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