More than 50 people showed up at the 2nd Whispering Hills workshop held on Thursday night. There were also about a dozen City officials, including Councilman Adam Nick, Parks Commissioners Jim Rosenberg and Loretta Herrin, and Planning Commissioner Robert DeAlmeida. Community Services Director Scott Wasserman did a good job handling a crowd that represented competing interests.
It appears that there are three main interest groups who came to the 1st and now the 2nd workshop –
· Dog park
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· Arena soccer
· Community garden
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DOG PARK
The dog park advocates point out that the City has 9,000 licensed dog owners and there are probably more than 15,000 households with dogs. Right now there are no dog parks, and by the end of the year we will have a postage stamp size dog park near Baker Ranch. That park will accommodate less than a dozen dogs at a time, and given the 2,300 homes being built nearby, is expected to be fully occupied. It is being paid for by the developers.
The other park that has been approved is a 1+ acre park as part of the 900 new homes being built in Portola Hills. Along with the existing 2,181 housing units, this will bring the population of Portola Hills to nearly 10,000 people, so that new dog park, when finished in 2017, is likely to serve the people from that community.
BTW – that park is also being paid for by the developers.
This means that Lake Forest still needs a few more areas for a dog park, and many people believe that smaller parks located throughout the City is a better approach than one central large park. Hence the desire to place another “neighborhood dog park” in Whispering Hills.
ARENA SOCCER
According to City staff there are 12 or 13 City owned parks for soccer, and there are more soccer fields available at schools. When City staff do the field allocations, soccer fields are being well used, but there is no indication that the city needs more than the dozen plus fields already in operation.
Arena Soccer, on the other hand, really isn’t soccer, per se, so it’s hard to evaluate whether or not there is a need for an arena soccer field in the City. According to the one advocate who was present at the meeting, there is an arena in Mission Viejo. According to Google, there are also arena soccer fields in Garden Grove and Orange. But is there a need in Lake Forest?
COMMUNITY GARDEN
Most of the support for a community garden comes from the people who live in the Whispering Hills complex next to the area, and from the 100 member strong Lake Forest Garden Club.
There seems to be some confusion among the advocates. Most are asking for a plot of land on which to grow their fruits and vegetables. Others are asking for a “community garden park” which is more like an educational center to teach people about how to grow vegetables, fruits, etc.
There are several community gardens in Orange County, including Irvine, San Juan Capistrano, Laguna Beach, Laguna Woods, Fullerton, and Anaheim.
NEXT STEP
The consultants prepared 5 different plans, based on the previous workshop, but nothing more. Most of the plans sought to include at least two of the amenities
The consultants will take their plans, such as they are, and present them to the Parks and Recreation Commission (PRC). Right now, no money has been set aside by the Council to fund any of the options being discussed.
Later this week I’ll offer some unsolicited advice about how to move forward.
COMMENTS
It came to my attention that at times the COMMENTS section of the Patch doesn’t work. I have no control over this. I can neither enable nor disable the Comments section nor can I delete or edit other people’s work. If you encounter this problem, please notify the Patch. If you want to discuss the issues raised in these articles you’re welcome to join more than 300 of us at Lake Forest Town Square, or you can e-mail me individually, come to my office hours, or attend my Town hall meetings.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Dr. Jim Gardner is on the City Council for Lake Forest. You can check him out on LinkedIn and/or Facebook and you can share your thoughts about the City at Lake Forest Town Square on Facebook. His comments are not meant to reflect official City Policy.
Dr. Gardner has office hours every Tuesday from 3 pm to 5 pm at the City Hall. In addition, he holds a town hall meeting every quarter. The next meeting will be on August 15 at 2 pm at the El Toro Public Library.
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