South Bay : Few Friends Back Park Plan

County officials will be hard-pressed to find friends in Friendship Park these days. More than 300 residents from Rancho Palos Verdes and San Pedro packed a county Department of Parks and Recreation meeting in San Pedro on Wednesday to protest plans for a proposed nature center on a hilltop site bordering both towns. Residents said the park is already a nature center and that they do not want it destroyed by a building.

“There is such a small amount of space [in Los Angeles] that is natural and open without construction,” said Jane Jones, president of Friends of Friendship Park, a group of park users opposed to the development. “We want to keep the park that way.”

Recently renamed the Deane Dana Friendship Park after the county supervisor who represents the area, the park offers a panoramic view of Los Angeles in addition to hiking trails, a butterfly sanctuary and natural animal habitats.

According to Dennis Morefield, a spokesman in Dana’s office, the $4-million, 6,600-square-foot Deane Dana Nature Center would be funded through voter-approved Proposition A, the park bond initiative. Morefield said the nature center would make the steep hilltop park more accessible.

Jones said Friends of Friendship Park want officials to scrap the nature center idea and use funds for trail improvements and maintenance.