2 Competing Visions for Open Space

A hundred or so barren acres alongside the San Gabriel River in Pico Rivera are often dry and dusty, but to the Sierra Club they are original L.A., remnants of a native California that deserve to be preserved.

Pico Rivera city officials, however, envision the bright green of an 18-hole championship golf course where residents can play an affordable game.

Such are the contrasting visions for the open space near Whittier Narrows Nature Center, where, if the city has its way, golfers might start teeing off by 2006.

The city argues that, as a golf course, the land would be used much as it is now -- as open space devoted to recreation.

Besides, golf courses are environmentally friendly, said Cindy-Lu Gans, director of Pico Rivera’s Department of Parks and Recreation.

“When you look at golf courses, it’s all plant material,” she said.

Not all plants are suitable, however, environmentalists said.

“We are not necessarily opposed to recreational facilities away from the river,” said Jeff Yann, a Sierra Club volunteer and chairman of the San Gabriel River campaign. “But we want to keep it looking like a river.”

He added: “No matter how green a golf course is, it’s not habitat.”

The golf course, anticipated as 150 to 210 acres, would occupy two portions of land bracketing the river about 2 1/2 miles southwest of the intersection of the Pomona and San Gabriel River freeways.

Trails for cycling and horseback riding run through portions of the land, much of which lies in a flood plain and is unsuitable for building.

On the east side is a defunct campground that is part of Bicentennial Park, next to the Pico Rivera Sports Arena.

The city closed the campground years ago as interest waned, and the golf course would be built over the campground, said Dennis Courtemarche, Pico Rivera’s city manager.

About 57 acres of the open space is owned by Suburban Water, a private company, and about 25 acres by the Army Corps of Engineers, which has leased the land to Pico Rivera since the 1960s.

The Army Corps has no objections to the plan, though the project still must undergo an environmental review, said Phil Serpa, an outdoor recreation planner for the agency.

The Sierra Club raised a number of environmental concerns, chiefly about the possible effects on drinking water of pesticides and fertilizers from the course. Suburban Water operates four wells there that serve about 300,000 people.

Gary Hofer, a spokesman for the company, said concerns about water quality were “not a deal killer.”

“There are precautions that can be taken to ensure water quality and still have greens on top,” he said, including buffer zones and restrictions on fertilizers.

“Our interest is in the protection of our water quality. At the same time, we believe this course could be built for the benefit of the community and our ratepayers without any degradation in water quality.”

The Pico Rivera stables also are nearby and might be destroyed to make way for the greens.

About 185 horses are boarded there, said stable manager Rafael Salazar. Outside his trailer office, a few minutes’ drive off the San Gabriel River Freeway, birds chirped incessantly and a horse neighed occasionally. No freeway hum here.

Horse owners like the stable because it is centrally located and they can ride along the San Gabriel River trails to Huntington Beach or the San Gabriel Mountains, Salazar said.

If it seemed that the course was going to be built, “I’m sure we would have people approaching the city,” Salazar said.

For now, horse enthusiasts are waiting to see what happens next.

The City Council already has approved the idea of a privately developed golf course. Final plans are due to the council for approval in early 2005.

The Zee Group is the chosen developer, though it has never developed a course before, Courtemarche said.

The deal should cost the residents of Pico Rivera nothing, and in return they should get a reasonably priced golf game, Courtemarche said. It can cost $100 to play on other courses, he said, and city officials are hoping to charge $30 to $50 a round.

Whittier Narrows Golf Course, which is about two miles from the Pico Rivera site, charges $21.50 to $40 a round.

Yann, of the Sierra Club, said he would prefer a low-impact recreation area. The development of a golf course would destroy habitat for about 300 species of birds that nest there, he said.

“That whole area is a little paradise for birds,” he said. The plan would crowd out native habitat, “replacing it with an artificial environment. It just simply wouldn’t be suitable.... The birds wouldn’t be able to eat.”

Parks Director Gans, sitting in a golf cart on Pico Rivera’s adjacent nine-hole course at Whittier Dam, looked over the site recently. She pointed out egrets and a crane as they landed by the river.

“Birds love the golf courses,” she said, adding that the city would attempt to provide bird habitats if necessary. “What a wonderful thing to do, to provide more habitat for a bird close to extinction.”