Greenway Mowed Down but Not Dead Yet

A near-death experience can alter people’s lives.

Will it do the same for a group of environmentalists in Orange who saw the “white light” but now feel as if they’re back from the brink?

A shaken but revived Howard DeCruyenaere says yes.

The president of the Santiago Creek Greenway Alliance, DeCruyenaere says what’s happened in recent days is nothing short of miraculous. Last week, the Orange City Council voted 3 to 2 to approve a large commercial storage lot on a patch of undeveloped ground near a stretch of Santiago Creek.

To alliance supporters, the project would have been a disastrous turning point in their long-running effort to fashion a greenway and series of recreational trails along the creek. Their lament: Who wants to hike along the creek and look into a parking lot full of boxcar-sized storage units?

Accordingly, they saw the 3-2 vote as a dire moment.

But then, could it be . . . !

Divine intervention?

How about a council oversight?

Whatever, the project is suddenly in jeopardy.

For reasons not clear, someone at City Hall forgot that the 3-2 vote to rezone the area for a commercial enterprise required two subsequent council votes.

No big deal, except that because of a musical-chairs quirk in last month’s city elections, Orange has only four council members as of this week--following Mike Spurgeon’s retirement after a 10-year tenure. Spurgeon supported the project.

Joanne Coontz won Spurgeon’s seat, but a fifth is open because Mark Murphy, another incumbent, won a separate race for mayor. Because it couldn’t be known ahead of time he would win, Murphy’s council seat wasn’t up for grabs and now is vacant.

The bottom line is that the commercial project--which Spurgeon supported along with Coontz and Murphy--now has only two votes instead of three.

DeCruyenaere says the alliance has been jolted. Given a reprieve, he says the group will aggressively try to raise money and go after state funds to buy the eight acres planned for the storage site--an acquisition that might be possible if the project is stalled.

Council Foes Outmaneuver Themselves

The alliance envisions an urban greenway linking several parks along the creek’s 12 miles that run from Irvine Lake across the breadth of Orange until eventually funneling into the Santa Ana River.

It’s an ambitious project that’s been in some people’s minds for 30 years (the alliance is 10 years old), but which has never been fully embraced by the council.

Nor has the alliance been overly aggressive, in part because its members have day jobs and the group isn’t highly funded. And, it must be said, parts of the creek and its banks resemble a dump site more than an aesthetic urban amenity.

DeCruyenaere would concede that, but says it’s because the city doesn’t recognize a jewel, however unpolished, when it sees one.

Such greenway projects are proceeding in other cities, such as Denver, and could happen along Santiago Creek, DeCruyenaere says.

That remains to be seen, although the manager for the Denver greenway project says the creek has great possibilities. “I think there are some great opportunities there for an urban greenway corridor along the creek,” Bob Searns says by phone from Denver. “There could be a link from the Santa Ana River up to the hills. It could be a really nice amenity. Those are the kind of projects I love to work on.”

For now, alliance supporters are savoring the council’s miscalculation. The four council members can pick a fifth to fill the vacancy, but only if three of them agree on someone.

If that doesn’t happen, the soonest a special election could happen is June. Spurgeon says even if the council picks an interim fifth member, he doesn’t foresee the storage project returning for at least six months.

For the alliance, that is breathing room.

“Boy, did this backfire on them,” says Shirley Grindle of the council majority’s vote. An Orange resident, longtime observer of local politics, and alliance supporter, Grindle says she has it on good authority the council delayed voting on the zoning change so as not to make it an election issue. Now, it has lost its third and deciding vote.

Gloating? You bet.

“I’m absolutely relishing it,” Grindle says. “This is poetic justice, and I can’t think of a project that more deserves to have been sandbagged than this one.”

Having “survived” the poison pill, the Greenway Alliance has but one question to answer:

What are you going to do with the rest of your life?

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Dana Parsons’ column appears Wednesday, Friday and Sunday. Readers may reach Parsons by calling (714) 966-7821 or by writing to him at The Times’ Orange County edition, 1375 Sunflower Ave., Costa Mesa, CA 92626, or by e-mail to dana.parsons@latimes.com.