Wieder Park First Phase Gets Council Approval

After 20 years of discussions and about six years of formal planning, a county park linking Huntington Central Park with the beach and the Bolsa Chica wetlands got the go-ahead from the City Council this week.

Plans for the Harriett M. Wieder Regional Park, named for the former county supervisor, were hammered out by the city, county, state and residents of the area, but were delayed about a year by the county bankruptcy.

“Please vote for the park, vote for the park tonight and vote for the park the way the county planned it,” former Mayor Victor Leipzig told the Huntington Beach City Council on Monday night. “Delay could kill this park. It’s been a long time coming.”

The current mayor, Ralph H. Bauer, echoed Leipzig and other park supporters who worried that further tinkering with the plan would hold up construction.

Most of the 106-acre park will remain in its natural state. Two neighborhood parks with playgrounds and picnic areas will take up about six acres. A 5,000-square-foot nature center is also planned.

The center and parking lot will be built behind a berm, to keep them out of sight. But Councilman Peter M. Green asked residents, police and park officials to reexamine that plan, saying a hidden parking lot could become a haven for muggers and child molesters.

The council voted 7-0 to approve construction of the park’s first phase, totaling 51 acres. It will cost $1.4 million, which will come from the state, county and Shell Oil. Construction of the entire park will cost $6 million.

Later this year the county will acquire the remaining land for the park, Bauer said.

The Koll Co. is giving the land to the county as part of a deal that allows the firm to build homes on Bolsa Chica mesa.