Beach and Park Fee Increases Proposed : Recreation: County agency says help is needed to meet $33-million outlay. Anti-tax group is opposed.

A county agency has proposed increasing fees for virtually every recreational use of the county’s beaches and parks, from beach parking to annual passes to regional parks.

The fee hikes, proposed by the Environmental Management Agency and due for discussion today, are intended to help offset the county’s $33-million annual cost to operate 19 regional parks, three recreational harbors, six beaches and seven historical sites.

While some support the hikes as necessary to maintain the quality of these recreational areas, others have criticized any county fee increases as hidden taxes.

“Orange County has been really behind in raising [its] fees,” said Ilse Byrnes, director of the California Trails Foundation and a member of Friends of Casper Wilderness Park. “The park users themselves, all these bikers that I talk to, all say $2 is ridiculously low.”

The vocal anti-tax group Committees of Correspondence, however, has vowed to treat all fee increases as tax hikes.

The proposed changes would increase the cost of parking at county-owned recreational areas from $2 to $4 on weekends. They would also increase fees for camping at the parks, for use of meeting rooms there and for special events.

The proposal would increase annual parking passes for regional parks and beaches from $30 to $50, or $75 for both. The annual pass for seniors and disabled people, now $7.50, would increase to $30.

Some avid park and trail users, however, see the issue as one about nature, not money.

“I can understand if people have concerns about the fees being raised, but it does take money to keep the parks going,” said Toni Smoke, 22, who said she goes for daily horseback rides. “We’ve got to start protecting nature and trying to take an active part in preserving the parks.”

Byrnes said the increased income would “protect our heritage and the parks. When something is cheap, then you don’t care about it. But if you pay for something and you’re aware that it goes for the upkeep of what you cherish, then that makes it special.”

The increases also would help fill a void in EMA coffers left when state lawmakers approved Orange County’s financial recovery plan earlier this month, allowing the county to use $12 million annually for 20 years in funds slated for redevelopment, parks, flood control and beaches and harbors.

In its proposal, the EMA notes that the increases would also bring county fees more into line with those charged at state parks and at recreation areas in nearby counties.

For example, visitors to Los Angeles County recreational areas pay $6 to park, compared to $2 in Orange County.

In addition to raising its fees, the EMA will have to scrap several projects to balance its budget.

Plans for an interpretive center at the Bolsa Chica wetlands park are gone, as are plans for a similar new center at Thomas F. Riley Park.

The EMA also will have to make available fewer restrooms at some parks and fewer lights at ballparks.

The proposed fee changes will be considered today at a special joint meeting of the Harbors, Beaches and Parks Commission and the Orange County Historical Commission. The fee schedule then will be studied by the county’s Revenue Review Committee. Both groups will make recommendations to the Board of Supervisors late next month.

Jim Meyer of Trails Inc., an avid cyclist, said that while park fees in Orange County have been low, he hopes increases don’t signal a philosophical shift away from viewing the use of recreational space as a public service to viewing it as necessarily self-supporting.

“My one concern is that people don’t start looking at parks to pay their own way,” Meyer said. “It’s a quality-of-life issue, it’s a service. The fire department doesn’t pay its own way, social services doesn’t pay its own way--they’re a service provided to the community.”

Meyer also said that while he supports an increase in fees, even the increase from $2 to $4 for weekend parking is more than he thinks practical.

“I was thinking more along the line of $2 to $3--that’s fairly painless for most people,” Meyer said. “But at $4 you’re pushing the threshold of pain, and people begin to just park their cars outside the park and walk in.”