Plan Approval Brings Access to Coast Park Closer to Reality

After she’d waited for years--since 1993, when Laguna Coast Wilderness Park was officially dedicated--the vote to finalize park plans came too quickly for Mary Fegraus to catch. Fegraus, head of the Laguna Canyon Foundation, was still on her way to the Board of Supervisors meeting Tuesday when members voted 4-0 to approve county plans for the park.

Supervisor Tom Wilson, a longtime park supporter, said the board did not hesitate.

“This is the culmination of six years of work by county staff and hundreds of volunteers who came together to make this happen,” he said.

The decision could open up at least part of the wilderness preserve, which is bordered by Laguna Beach, Newport Beach and Irvine, to the public within a year.

The 3,000-acre park--which boosters hope will one day grow to become Orange County’s largest--offers very limited public access. Plans to make the land more accessible have inched forward since the first planning workshop in 1994.

The cost of implementing the plan has been put at $3.9 million; it will include funds for trail markers, additional park rangers, parking facilities, restrooms and a 3,000-square-foot nature center. About $400,000 has been allocated for the first stage.

Plans for the park were delayed in part because of the county’s bankruptcy in 1994.

Fegraus said the vote was gratifying for her and all of the volunteers who worked on the project through the years.

“I was very excited, of course,” she said. “The park is now a connector for three parks, making up over 17,000 preserved acres of open space. That’s a significant amount of land for Orange County to be preserving in the late 1900s.”

The wilderness park is one link in a continuous greenbelt that connects the open space of Crystal Cove State Park, Aliso and Wood Canyons Regional Park and undeveloped land in Irvine.

A second park ranger was recently hired for the Laguna Coast park, but more work must be done before the land will be ready for the public.

Denton Turner, manager of park design for Orange County, said part of the site may be open in six to nine months. Plans call for nearly all of the interior land to be left unchanged, with some work done to connect the 44 miles of trails. Access points to the trails will be built on the park’s perimeter using natural materials.

“We still have some problems in terms of access,” said Elisabeth Brown, executive director of the environmental preservation group Laguna Greenbelt. “You won’t be able to reach the park easily until Laguna Canyon Road gets realigned.”

That realignment is scheduled for early 2000, and some county officials said work on the nature center is unlikely to begin before the road is finished.

But Brown, who has been involved in park planning from the beginning, said the Board of Supervisors’ final approval is significant for the county.

“This land is crucial to maintaining what we have left of the natural environment,” she said. “That’s the experience this park will offer that other parks don’t. You come to a wilderness park to see what Orange County used to be.”

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Park Plans

County plans for the 3,000-acre Laguna Coast Wilderness Park received approval Tuesday from the Board of Supervisors. The park will feature 44 miles of trails and a 3,000-square-foot nature center.

Access Points

1. Little Sycamore Canyon: Ranger headquarters and nature center; 40 parking places

2. James Dilley: Parking; no restroom

3. Laurel Canyon: 50 parking places; multiuse access; hiking only up the canyon

4. Big Bend: Equestrian staging area; will accommodate trailer parking

5. Irvine Bowl: Gate only; no on-site parking; hiking, mountain-bike access

6. Crystal Cove: Parking; restroom; hiking, mountain-bike access

Source: County of Orange