Committee backs amenities for Fairview Park

The Fairview Park Citizens Advisory Committee’s discussions on park additions continued Wednesday, with a majority of the group giving thumbs-up approvals to adding new picnic structures, bike trails with pedestrian paths alongside them, drought-tolerant plants and an improved information kiosk.

The nine-member group’s discussions focused on ideas for the 208-acre park’s popular southwest quadrant, which spans about 95 acres.

Those approved items will still be subject to further dissemination and potential approvals from the Parks and Recreation Commission and City Council.

City staff noted that some bike trail projects are already being designed for the southwest quadrant. The job could involve reconstructing the existing asphalt trails, which are considered to be in poor condition, with colored concrete that blends in better with the ground.

It would also make the trail system compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act, staff said.

Some residents and committee member Lee Ramos expressed concerns with having so much concrete in the park.

The Eastside resident pointed to the concrete paths around the Back Bay. They’ve created hazardous conditions there as people speed through them, he said.

Fairview Park “will lose something by putting in, I believe, a concrete raceway,” Ramos said.

The group held off on its vote to approve protection of the quadrant’s vernal pools, which have been the subject of recent and ongoing federal scrutiny.

One of the pools was deemed to have been damaged by un-permitted decomposed granite placed on a pair of trails last summer. Since then, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has investigated the matter because the pools contain an endangered species, the San Diego fairy shrimp, that may have been harmed by the decomposed granite.

FWS also ordered that both trails be removed of the granite. That job was completed in January.

The federal agency has not yet approved City Hall’s mitigation measures to make up for the damage. The measures will likely include delineation of all of the park’s vernal pools with metal cables.

The committee members said they wanted to hold off on their vote until FWS’ investigation is complete and City Hall receives further direction.

Westside resident Kim Hendricks said the metal cables are necessary to protect the sensitive habitat.

“They should have been in place 15 years ago,” she said.

Public Services Director Ernesto Munoz noted that future events in Fairview Park will not have cars parking over the small vernal pool near the Harbor Soaring Society’s runway, which had occurred in past years.

Earlier this year, the committee threw out proposals for sports fields in the southwest quadrant — a win for the park’s “keep it natural” users.

Some of the committee members, however, have indicated that they would like to see sports areas somehow incorporated into the southeast quadrant, much of which is occupied by the Orange County Model Engineers’ ridable train setup.

The southeast quadrant will likely be discussed later this year, though there is no set date.