Supervisors Add $10,000 to Study of 3-City Park

A fledging plan to create a 1,000-acre park connecting open space from the Newport Beach shoreline to the bluffs of Costa Mesa cleared a key hurdle Tuesday when county supervisors allocated seed money to study the project.

The county’s $10,000 contribution for Orange Coast River Park follows allocations of $5,000 each from Newport Beach, Costa Mesa and Huntington Beach. That money, along with grants of $40,000, will be used to draw up preliminary plans for the park.

Environmentalists and other supporters envision the park as a seamless path through the Santa Ana River ecosystem, rising from ocean level through Fairview Regional Park in Costa Mesa.

Friends of Harbors, Beaches and Parks, a private nonprofit group and chief backer of the plan, hopes to build trails that hikers, mountain bikers and equestrians could use to view the native frogs, birds of prey and rabbits.

“There is such enthusiasm for this idea because of the diversity of habitat types--from salt marsh to coastal sage scrubs and a freshwater pond,” said Denton Turner, a park planner with the county’s Public Facilities & Resources Department. “It’s got to be attracting a tremendous spectrum of critters.”

The park would include existing public spaces such as Fairview park and the Talbert Nature Preserve in Huntington Beach. It would add undeveloped land around the river, including reconditioned oil fields.

“Very few parcels of this size remain undeveloped right in the middle of Orange County,” Turner said.

Once the plan is completed, the nonprofit group hopes to develop the park over several years, as money becomes available for land acquisition and wetlands restoration.

Having a master plan for the area, officials said, improves the chance to win state and federal grants to preserve sensitive areas. It remains unclear how much the project would cost; a preliminary estimate is $20 million.

“I don’t really know what it will cost, but I can tell you, it’s not going to be cheap, and it’s not going to take place overnight,” said Costa Mesa City Councilman Joe Erickson.

“The county’s contribution today shows the level of seriousness on the part of the cities and the county to work together to give a huge open-space gift to the people of Orange County,” he said Tuesday.

The backers’ first step is to purchase the private land, said Tim Miller, manager of the county’s Harbors, Beaches and Parks division.

“Then they need a general development plan--a blueprint,” he said.

A final plan will identify trails, wetlands and natural habitats and the cost and budget for the park, Miller said.

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Park Place

The Board of Supervisors and three city councils have allocated $25,000 in seed money to study the proposed Orange Coast River Park, which would link open spaces along the Santa Ana River.

* Fast Facts

About 1,000 acres of land would be involved.

Cities and the county would continue to manage the properties.

Most of the land would be restored to nature preserves and passive parkland.

Conventional urban parks also are planned.

Privately-owned land would be purchased or donated.

Source: Friends of Harbors, Beaches and Parks; Researched by JOHN CANALIS / For the Times.