Hobbyists Lose Park Space to Golf-Course Plan

After years of debate, Orange County supervisors voted Tuesday to end recreational use of Mile Square Regional Park’s 137-acre interior triangle by model airplane and other hobby groups and take the space for expansion of one of the park’s two golf courses.

Members of Save Mile Square Park Committee, a group of model airplane enthusiasts, said they will file a lawsuit as early as today to stop the golf course project.

“Despite our good-faith efforts,” committee spokesman Robert A. Richards said, “the county has rejected our offers to resolve this without litigation.”

The group will seek an injunction to prevent any premature demolition of the triangle area, Richards said.

The board’s action, which was recommended by the Harbors, Beaches and Parks Commission, approves an environmental impact report for the golf course expansion, which won supervisors’ approval two years ago.

There was recent concern about possible soil contamination from the triangle’s asphalt runways. But soil tests found no evidence of hazardous materials, the county said.

Because the Fountain Valley park is the county’s only public place to fly model airplanes, hobbyists have criticized the proposal, which would force them to travel to a public airstrip in the Sepulveda Basin in Los Angeles County, more than 60 miles away.

The park is also a popular site for launching model rockets. Fred Shecter of Fullerton, who spoke on behalf of the Southern California Rocket Assn., urged supervisors to help the group find another site. If no site is found, he said, unsupervised and illegal launches may result, which could cause fires.

Supervisors directed county staff to work with the hobbyists to help find alternative recreational areas.

For nearly four decades, Mile Square Regional Park’s interior has been used for a variety of recreational activities, including hot air balloon flights, fireworks shows and Boy Scout jamborees.

The park site was owned by the U.S. government and used as a military training facility from the 1940s to the 1970s, when the county acquired most of the land.

In 1992, the county traded some land near Irvine to the federal government for the remaining 137 acres in the middle of Mile Square Park. The swap enabled the military to build housing near its two bases in Tustin and at El Toro.

Before 1992, the property had been leased to the county by the federal government on a year-to-year basis.