Making Noise at Whispering Hills

For years the 6 acre site along Lake Forest Drive at the intersection of Dimension has sat vacant, an eye-sore in a City where almost every spare inch of dirt along our main thoroughfares has been accounted for. Suddenly, three groups are eyeing this area, hoping for an indoor soccer arena, a dog park, or a community garden.

The idea for an indoor soccer arena is being pushed by Mayor Voigts, whose daughter is a big soccer fan. Voigts already got the proposed sports park to enlarge the soccer fields to qualify for tournament level soccer, and now he’d like to see even more space put aside for soccer.

The dog park advocates have been eyeing this space for a park large enough for a space for both small and large dogs. I’ve covered this topic on several occasions, so click here for more info on this topic.

The newest group to covet the city owned 6 acres can be found at www.lfgardenpark.com or you can go to their Facebook page under "Lake Forest Community Garden Park."

INDOOR SOCCER

At a recent meeting of the Parks and Recreation Commission, staff reported that while our sports fields were generally well used, there were times when they were vacant. Given that fact, plus the fact that we are about to add $40 million worth of sports fields (that’s right, $40 million which is more money than the city spends in a year on everything), one has to seriously question the wisdom of erecting even more sports fields, especially when we lack such amenities as a senior center, a civic center, an activities center, etc. And how many people would benefit from an indoor soccer arena?

DOG PARK

I have 2 dogs myself and I have been advocating for a dog park for many years. But it’s clear to me that a better solution to a “park” would be to create “dog zones” in our existing parks. Instead of spending $2 million to create a 6-acre dog park in Whispering Hills, we could spend 1/10th of that amount and build large and small dog zones around the city. More for less? That’s my kind of deal!

COMMUNITY GARDEN

Community gardens can be great. Laguna Woods has one, and although there have been problems, overall their experience has been a good one. Here at my HOA we recently set up a community garden for our preschoolers, and that seems to be doing very well, although the size is pretty small by any standards. Just last week I was with a Planning Commission tour of affordable housing in Irvine, and we saw a community garden attached to one of those projects, and the staff reported that it was well received.

I think the idea of a “community garden” is a good one. The City has several thousand people who live in apartment buildings, and these people don’t have access to gardens. Moreover, the City plans to add thousands of new homes in the near future, many of which will be on postage stamp size lots so that developers can make even bigger profits. This means a lot of people will be without the space for a home garden.

The Native Americans say that a man will never lose his head when his feet are in the dirt. It leaves a little in the translation, but it’s meant to say that working in the Earth helps give you the proper perspective on life. Personally I believe that’s true, so I’m inclined to endorse the idea of a community garden, certainly in favor of either an indoor soccer arena or a dog park.

BEST USES OF THE LAND

But before we go ahead with any of the plans that are being set before the Council, the Planning Commission (PC) needs to do some planning. Usually the PC sits back and waits for proposals to come to them. That’s probably not the best way to “plan”. Let’s be proactive in this case. We should access the needs of the city, look at the Whispering Hills site, consider the location and the surrounds, and then see what emerges. Given the three alternatives being pushed right now, my money is on the Community Garden, but I’d like to see all the alternatives considered.