City May Purchase Riding Stable for Open Space

As part of an ongoing effort to preserve open space in and around the city, the City Council will decide today whether to spend $650,000 to buy 22 acres along Laguna Canyon Road.

The parcel, for years a riding stable, is on a list of priority acquisition sites prepared five years ago by the city’s Open Space Committee, City Manager Kenneth C. Frank said Monday. Higher priority sites already have been purchased, he said.

Owned by Orange Coast Specialties, the acreage just south of El Toro Road is now “the No. 1-ranked parcel that has not been acquired for preservation,” Frank said. The land is valuable for its close proximity to Laguna Coast Wilderness Park and the fact that a creek runs through it.

While the council would have to decide how the land would ultimately be used and the property is most likely to be set aside as open space, Frank said, there is an outside chance it could also be used for a soccer field.

The price of the parcel is $600,000. The remaining money would cover the costs of closing the deal, removing old buildings and possibly doing other work at the site, according to a memo from Frank to the council.

The money would be allocated from the city’s open-space fund, which now has a balance of more than $1 million, the memo states. Grants from the California Department of Transportation and the State Department of Parks and Recreation also might be used.