State Budget a Bonanza for Southland Parks

Metropolitan Los Angeles--long known for having one of the nation’s lowest ratios of parkland per resident--is expected to reap unprecedented benefits from the state’s largest parks and recreation budget in nearly 20 years.

The state’s $854-million park spending plan, which represents an increase of nearly 80% from last year’s budget, is expected to pay for everything from soccer fields in South-Central Los Angeles to a nature habitat preserve in the San Fernando Valley to a wetland protection effort in West Los Angeles.

Ventura and Orange County park-goers would get a sizable piece of the funding for such projects as preserving sensitive habitat on Ahmanson Ranch and repairing beach erosion in Huntington Beach.

“This is huge,” said Heather Rothman, a spokeswoman for the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy, which could get $35 million to help preserve open spaces. “These sums of money are unheard of.”

Gov. Gray Davis is expected to approve the budget, which is at the moment tangled in legislative bickering, by the end of June. But state officials said no changes are anticipated in the noncontroversial parks spending plan already agreed upon by a joint legislative committee.

The increase in the parks budget is primarily due to the approval by voters in March of Proposition 12, the $2.1-billion parks and open space bond measure.

And instead of doling out the funding over 10 years, as was expected, lawmakers in Sacramento plan to make available nearly $500 million of that funding this year.

Nearly half of the bond money has been set aside for underserved urban areas, where funding is expected to increase in some areas by up to 2,000%.

Assemblyman Antonio Villaraigosa (D-Los Angeles), a candidate for Los Angeles mayor and one of the authors of Proposition 12, said he was particularly pleased that the budget includes $83.5 million to help create the first state park in 17 years, along the Los Angeles River.

He noted that Los Angeles lags far behind most big cities in the nation in providing park space, with only 0.91 acres for every 1,000 people.

Smaller allocations would help build new soccer fields at Ted Watkins Park near Watts and a new youth sports center and an 8.5-acre nature center in South-Central Los Angeles.

“It’s the greatest investment in parks and environmental habitat that I’ve seen since 1982,” said state Sen. Tom Hayden (D-Los Angeles), who co-wrote legislation to ensure that much of the park funding will be used in the inner city.

“There are parts of Los Angeles that are virtually without any park space at all,” he said.

Demographers expect Los Angeles County’s population to grow by about 2 million by the year 2010. Half that growth will occur in the city of Los Angeles. Lawmakers and environmentalists hope the bond measure and previous park funding will at least keep pace with the recreational demands of a growing region that is already park-poor.

The fat parks budget has been described by environmentalists as a vital step toward preserving endangered habitat from the onrush of urban development.

“The Sierra Club is pleased to see that Proposition 12 is fulfilling its promise to bring much-needed resources to wild places and urban parks,” said Bill Corcoran, conservation coordinator for the Angeles chapter of the Sierra Club.

Corcoran noted that $5 million has been set aside from Proposition 12 funds to help purchase up to five acres of property--mostly parking lots and utility maintenance yards--to build a river park along the Arroyo Seco near Elysian Park.

The budget also sets aside $25 million in hopes of purchasing the 1,000-acre site of the Playa Vista commercial and residential development near the Ballona wetlands in Playa Del Rey. Opponents of the project hope the development will fall through, allowing them to buy and preserve the wetlands.

The budget has also earmarked funding for purchasing land in another controversial project, the Ahmanson Ranch development in Ventura County. The budget sets aside $10 million in hopes that the developer will agree to sell sensitive habitat areas within the project area.

The San Fernando Valley is expected to get funding for a wide variety of projects, including soccer fields at the Hansen Dam Recreation Area, a community center in Panorama City and an Indian museum in the Antelope Valley.

Los Angeles Councilman Alex Padilla’s district was a big winner, scoring funds for three projects in the northeast Valley. More than $1 million is slated to create eight to 15 soccer fields and to buy additional parkland at Hansen Dam.

“We’re taking continual steps to bring about the revitalization of Hansen Dam,” Padilla said. “It’s a whole regional complex of family-oriented activities.”

There is also $1.5 million set aside to expand Blythe Street Park in Panorama City, a pocket park that was once a major gang hangout.

“It was a park that was lost due to violence in the area,” Padilla said.

The parks budget is also expected to set aside $1 million for renovations at Brand Park in Mission Hills.

The most expensive allocation for the Valley is $5 million to Los Angeles County for a nature and endangered species habitat at the Big Tujunga Wash.

Glendale can expect funding for three projects, including $400,000 for the development of a mini-park in the southern part of the city, where there are few parks and many families live in crowded apartment complexes.

“We have 60% of the population of the city living in southern Glendale, but that part of the city has only 8% of the parkland,” said Glendale Parks Director Nello Iacono.

In Orange County, the park bond is expected to provide $18 million to buy part of the Dana Point headlands reserve adjacent to Doheny State Beach and $2 million to help Huntington Beach refurbish its bluff-top area north of the city, which has been hard hit by erosion.

“This is good news. We’ve been after some funds to replace the railing there too,” said Richard Barnard, city spokesman. “The money will help restore the grassy area where the bike trails are, and we want to do some protection of the bluff to minimize erosion from rain and when it’s struck by ocean waves.”

The city’s repairs had been included in several previous funding bills that were unsuccessful.

Swimmers and surfers who frequent the area have long complained that the city has dragged its feet on maintenance for the bluffs, where erosion has caused the bike trail to cave. Instead of making repairs, city crews erected a fence, citing liability issues.

“We’ve been looking for funding for some time,” Barnard said. “It’s long overdue.”

In Buena Park, City Manager Greg Beaubien said $250,000 from the park bonds are expected to help renovate an outdoor theater at the Community Recreation and Senior Center and upgrade aging picnic shelters at Peak and Boisseranc parks.

In Fullerton, $2 million is expected to pay to restore Laguna Lake Park. Though the city had requested $2.75 million, the bond amount is still good news, City Manager Jim Armstrong said.

The popular fishing lake has had a silt buildup “for years,” to the point where fish began dying last year, Armstrong said.

Part of the problem is that the 10-acre lake originally was used for farm irrigation and later was converted to a city park. Consequently, it collects runoff and debris during the rainy season.

“It’s silted up, and we may have to drain and then dredge the lake to restore it,” Armstrong said. “The funds will be the start of that work.”

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Times staff writers Lee Condon and David Reyes contributed to this story.