DANA POINT : Nature Park Idea Nixed by Council

Saying that the site is too hilly, the City Council this week rejected a proposal to convert a four-acre parcel of city-owned land at Stonehill Drive and Selva Road into a nature park.

Developer Paul Douglas had offered to build a nature trail with park benches and signs identifying native plants, and possibly a sculpture garden.

Douglas, who is now building a small housing tract next to the site, had proposed the park in place of $57,000 in development fees he is required to pay the city for that project and another at Capistrano Beach.

But the majority of the council said at Tuesday’s meeting that the site, which Douglas estimated to be sloped at a 35-degree to 40-degree angle, is not appropriate.

“I don’t think this is the best use of the $57,000 in park fees for all of our residents,” Councilwoman Toni Gallagher said.

Mayor Pro Tem Harold R. Kaufman, the only council member to support the proposal, said that the park could be used as an educational tool for children, bird watchers and hikers.

“We don’t have a place with natural open space that people can walk through,” Kaufman said. “I think that this is the best use for that property.”

But Councilwoman Judy Curreri expressed the concern of the majority that, because of the terrain and the proximity of the busy Stonehill-Selva intersection, “it would just not be a safe place.”

The site had previously been considered as a possible location for a roller-hockey rink, but because of limited access to the property and the cost of developing the land, that idea was dropped.