Figuring out the future of Castaways Park

If long-term maintenance of native plant communities scheduled to be

restored in Castaways Park is an issue, volunteers are ready to step

up to the plate to help the city of Newport Beach with the effort.

Representatives from at least four citizen’s groups -- Newport Bay

Naturalists and Friends, the Environmental Nature Center, Earth

Resource Foundation and Stop Polluting Our Newport -- have all

offered to help with the maintenance of the park.

In fact, volunteerism has always been a strong component of the

development of Castaways Park as a natural park. In 1999, students

from Newport Harbor High School planted some 84 trees in the slope

above the willow grove and above the cattails on Dover Drive and

planted more bushes and plants in succeeding years. Stop Polluting

Our Newport members helped water and weed the area over the past four

years, and if you walk up to the park from the parking lot today and

look down to the right, you will see the fruits of our efforts.

In four short years, the area has almost complete ground cover and

the oak trees, sycamore trees, willows and elderberries are doing

great. Maintenance by volunteers, with intermittent help from city

crews, has been shown to be a viable and valuable synergy between the

community and the government. There won’t be a problem with ongoing

maintenance of the restored native communities. The city maintains

the natural areas of the park even today. With addition of the

proffered volunteer help, maintenance will be a snap, as well as

being an enjoyable and educational experience for the volunteers and

students.

In addition, in the past four years (except for the most recent

meeting of the Parks, Beaches and Recreation Commission, two weeks

ago), the City Council and the commission have been solid supporters

of the restoration of the Castaways Park with native vegetation. The

city established the Castaways Committee Advisory Committee in April

1999 led by Environmental Nature Center Director Bo Glover and

composed of city staff, parks commissioner and community volunteers.

This committee met several times on a regular basis and developed the

current restoration plan that won approval for a grant of nearly

$100,000 from the State Coastal Conservancy and $50,000 from the

Nature Conservancy for the restoration plan. In 1999, the parks

commission voted unanimously to create the committee to assist staff

in the development of Castaways Park as a natural park, voted

unanimously to proceed with this plan in 2000, and the Newport Beach

City Council voted unanimously in June 2002 to direct staff to

proceed with the project. (Interestingly, the Castaways Committee

members were not given notice of the most recent parks commission

meeting, where new members of the commission voted to reject the

plan). It wasn’t until after the November election in 2002, with the

election of a new council member, that the plan is now in trouble.

The council has now questioned the whole plan and the grants are now

in jeopardy.

Turf grass seems to be the common denominator for recent problems

besetting the city, including the “Mexicans on the beach” matter, the

senior affordable housing project at Bayview Landing and now the

Castaways restoration project, which may cause problems forever in

the future with receiving state grant money for Newport Beach.

Why turf grass? Turf grass is present in nearly all other parks in

the city, and is present on everybody’s lawn. It requires far more

maintenance than a natural meadow, requires far more water, mowing,

fertilizer and pesticides, and is not ecologically friendly to the

natural resource of the Upper Newport Bay. It will create runoff

problems with fertilizers and pesticides into Newport Harbor. Turf

grass on the meadow area at Castaways will also be an open invitation

for soccer clubs from outside the city to come and set up their goal

posts. I invite you to go see this phenomenon at Fairview Park in

Costa Mesa, when people from all over Orange County come to play

soccer on the turf grass.

Castaways Park is currently a quiet, serene, natural area, where

many people simply walk, run, bicycle, walk their dogs, bird watch

and generally enjoy the spectacular views and fragrance of native

California. The Coastal Conservancy was looking forward to upholding

Newport Beach as a shining example and trendsetter for other coastal

cities and towns for developing natural parks. To lose the grants

because of turf grass will be more than a disappointment, it will

tarnish the city’s ability to secure grant money in the future, money

which is in short supply, and which will go to other communities that

are modern and progressive.

As stated in the Castaways Park Restoration Plan, page 4:

“Once the restoration is complete, Castaways Park will be a

self-sustaining ecological site. Local fauna including insects,

birds, mammals, reptiles and amphibians will be provided with natural

habitat to ensure their continued survival. In addition, the City of

Newport Beach will have the unique opportunity to provide a hands-on

experience with nature for our citizens of every age. As more and

more natural habitats vanish in order to make room for growth in

Newport Beach and surrounding communities, it becomes increasingly

important to preserve what we have for future generations. At

Castaways Park, the students and the general public will experience

nature firsthand and better understand our responsibility to the

environment in which we live.”

At the Newport Beach City Council study session on August 12, I

hope the City Council will look carefully at the alternatives and

vote to uphold the current plan, for present and current generations

and for the future of Newport Beach’s ability to secure grant

funding. If the city does decide to reject the plan and grants for

restoration and decides to institute turf grass in the meadow area, I

would suggest the new turf plan go back to the Coastal Commission for

review as a modification to their Coastal Development Permit for

Castaways Park.

* EDITOR’S NOTE: Jan Vandersloot is a Newport Beach resident.