Santa Ana Officials Commit to Building A New Park on the River
Two council members – Jessie Lopez and Johnathan Ryan Hernandez – came forward with the idea, along with the office of Congressman Lou Correa, who was named often enough that night that one council member proposed bringing the item back in April when he’d be in town.
For Correa, the park is part of a larger effort to stave off what remains for him a lingering concern:
Another freeway.
Between the 1980s and early aughts, county officials mulled over an extension to State Route 57 with a toll road running above the river.
Correa vocally opposed the plan, and spearheaded the creation of the Santa Ana River Conservancy as a branch of the state Coastal Conservancy, which aims to enhance recreational resources along the waterway.
And to return the river to a more natural state.
The result, he said in a Wednesday phone interview, could fundamentally change daily life for central Orange County.
“I want to remove some of that cement and make it beautiful.”
Officials say the golf course already has all the things a new city park would need: Suitable parking, management offices, restrooms, irrigation, and maintenance structures.
“It’s really almost a turnkey operation,” Correa said.
By:
BRANDON PHO
Source:
Voice of OC
Next Article Previous Article