WILDOMAR - When southern Wildomar residents
purchased homes at Parkside Estates they paid a premium -- about $3,000 -- for
park views.
For years the residents stared at the chaparral-covered hills that became
home to motocross tracks and bunnies, not the ballfields and horse trails they
were told would be there. They listened to real estate
agents, community leaders and county officials talk about a future
10-acre park.
Now residents will have their wish after county officials announced they will
buy 26 acres from an area developer and turn the land over to the city for
design and construction. City officials will have to find a way to pay for the
project.
"My fifth-grader is all excited," said Susan Lane, who lives in Parkside less
than a mile from the park. "She told me she is going to ride her bike there. I
am so happy about this news."
The county has been working for years on purchasing parkland and was helped
out by the housing slump. The 26-acre park will surround Ronald Reagan
Elementary School and tie into the county's regional trail system.
Supervisor Bob Buster, who aided Wildomar community leaders in their cityhood
drive, said the parkland is his send-off gift to the city.
Buster said all the negotiations and work paid off and in the end, "It's
quite a story."
Residents had been critical over the lack of parks since the defunct Ortega
Trails and Recreation Parks District put chains up on Wildomar parks. The
district had financial troubles and attempted to pass a maintenance fee, but
voters turned it down.
Children were left playing in the streets and traveling outside of the
community to play sports. In early 2000, a number of southern Wildomar residents
pushed to become part of Murrieta, partly because the Wildomar community did not
have parks and their children were already going to Murrieta to play.
In 2006, voters approved a special $45 annual property tax to pay for the
maintenance of three closed parks -- Heritage-Windsong, Regency and Marna
O'Brien -- and a proposed 10-acre park on the eastside.
County officials initially were in negotiations to buy a 10-acre site near
the corner of La Estrella Street and Susan Drive at $1.6 million.
Then the housing slump hit.
County officials branched out and started talking with owners of other
neighboring parcels hoping to expand the park or at least purchase it at a lower
price.
D.R. Horton
had plans to build a housing development on the land surrounding Ronald
Reagan Elementary School. The company had been discussing landscaping issues
with the county when talks of purchasing the land for a park came up.
Dan Boyd, vice president of the company, said everyone gathered around and
the idea started to make sense.
"It's not just take, take, take," Boyd said. "Sometimes you have to
give."
On Wednesday morning, the county agreed to buy the land for $1.9 million and
$3.4 million in future park credits. The credits will go to future D.R. Horton
projects. New developers are required to pay an assortment of fees when
building, including fees to build and maintain future parks.
"Here is a case where economic reversals in one area helped us in another,"
Buster said Wednesday afternoon, standing in front of a chain-link fence that
surrounds the future park.
The actual park design and construction will be left up to the city, said
Dave Stahovich, Buster's chief of staff.
On Friday morning, Buster indicated the county would help the city find the
funds needed to start construction, using developer fees and other available
funds.
Councilwoman Bridgette Moore, who worked on the parks commission, said she
does not know where the city will get the money to build the park and how the
annual tax would help to run the park.
"It's something we are going to have to work on and figure out," Moore said
Tuesday afternoon.
For Lane and her two children, the wait was worth it. She said a 10-acre park
would not have been enough land for ballfields, open space and other
recreational activities.
"Now we have something for the kids to do," she said. "The critics can't even
say anything bad about the news. We got more than what we wished for."
Reach Rocky Salmon at 951-375-3739 or rsalmon@PE.com
See also the Press Release issued by The Riverside County Economic
Development Agency: Click Here
