Progress for Open Space

Recent developments on the open space front in Laguna Canyon and the coastal environs near Newport Beach show how far we have come and how farsighted some of the early proponents of preserving land were.

The need for retaining open space is constantly on the table in Orange County, which is balancing the demands of growth with the need to retain what makes living here special.

The balancing act plays out in different disputes that come up from time to time. As the county deals with such future land use questions as whether a new toll road could be routed through San Onofre State Beach, it is worth remembering that thousands of acres have been set aside.

It’s been an eventful spring for the cause of open space in coastal Orange County in particular. Recently, the Laguna Canyon Foundation announced a bequest of more than $500,000 from environmentalist Barbara Stuart Rabinowitsh, a key person in efforts to preserve land in the Laguna Canyon area.

Also, the Irvine Co. said it would turn over more than 2,000 acres of wild land to the county’s park system. This was in fulfillment of earlier agreements that will create a contiguous 17,000-acre swath of public parkland from the former Aliso Pier to Newport Coast Drive. The land fulfills an earlier agreement to donate it as part of a 1988 set-aside agreement with the county for approval of the 2,600-home Newport Coast project.

These are the latest in a long series of efforts to build a greenbelt in the Laguna Canyon area and, in general, to preserve open space in the vicinity of Irvine, Newport Beach and Laguna Beach.

The greenbelt, in particular, fulfills the dream of the late Jim Dilley, who returned from a trip to England years ago to conceive of an open space corridor around Laguna Beach. The progress we are witnessing today comes after years of negotiations and effort by many groups that followed his lead.

It hasn’t always been smooth. In 1989, protest groups marched in opposition to a major development by the Irvine Co. planned in the San Joaquin Hills, and the developer later agreed to sell the land. Voters subsequently taxed themselves $20 million to help preserve the area.

This revenue, with county and state funds, was used to buy much of the land from the developer.

In the meantime, the San Joaquin Hills tollway corridor, opposed by many environmentalists and residents concerned about what a road would do to a wilderness area, went through and now is in operation.

The size of a big developer with interest over the region made direct negotiations on the set-asides possible. The latest three areas include 251 acres south of San Joaquin Hills Road, another 385 acres off Newport Coast Drive, and 1,434 acres near Laguna Canyon Road and Coast Highway.

Credit is due Laguna Greenbelt President Elisabeth Brown, Laguna Canyon Conservancy President Carolyn Wood and many others in this effort. Through negotiation, and a willingness of the residents to dig into their own pockets, land was set aside. The persistent advocates dealt with a company cognizant of the benefits of open space and seasoned in negotiation over open space.

The results show the value of planning years ahead of the growth that may be coming down the road. Much of this was put together at a time when opinions were polarized, with the slow-growth movement and its aftermath. The creation of the Crystal Cove State Park years back was an early indicator of progress, and residents in Laguna Beach and other coastal communities have shown their support for open space preservation since that time.

Still at issue are about 200 acres near Laguna Canyon Road and the San Diego Freeway, but the precedent for arriving at agreement is there to build on. The open space victories that have been achieved are a contribution to future generations, and a testimony to the power of consensus building.