FW: NCTimes-Pfingsten: Supervisors appropriate $5 million to buy land for river park (San Luis Rey-Vessels property)

------ Forwarded Message
From: <char.ayers@att.net>
Date: Thu, 10 Apr 2008 17:52:41 +0000
To: Charlene Ayers <char.ayers@att.net>
Subject: NCTimes-Pfingsten: Supervisors appropriate $5 million to buy land for river park (San Luis Rey-Vessels property)

Thursday, April 10, 2008
Last modified Thursday, April 10, 2008 9:34 AM PDT

 <javascript:thumbnailWindow('/articles/2008/04/10/news/inland/fallbrook/5b6630f88b2e09428825742600659831.img', 600, 646)>

BONSALL: Supervisors approve $5 million to buy land for river park

By TOM PFINGSTEN - Staff Writer

 

BONSALL ---- County supervisors took the first step toward purchasing 143 acres of pristine Bonsall habitat for $5 million Wednesday morning for a massive river park that would stretch from Oceanside to Interstate 15.

The Board of Supervisors is expected to finalize the purchase at a May 14 meeting, and a county parks planner said Wednesday the property will probably change hands by the end of June.

If everything goes according to plan, officials said, the parcel will be incorporated into a preserve encompassing 1,600 acres along nine miles of the San Luis Rey River paralleling Highway 76.

Owned by the Frank Nelson Vessels Family Trust, the land is situated south of Highway 76, between Sweetgrass Lane and Via Monserate, and extends to Lilac Road at its southernmost extreme.

The purchase includes more than half a mile of the San Luis Rey River, and represents about 9 percent of the 1,600 acres the county hopes to fold into the preserve.

Supervisor Bill Horn, a leading proponent of the river park, hailed the purchase as a "great moment for the people of San Diego County, especially those in North County."

He pointed out that the 143-acre site will double the amount of land the county has set aside for the river park. The first parcel, a 116-acre site off Highway 76 near the highway's intersection with North River Road, was b ought from San Luis Rey Downs Enterprises for $3.2 million in 2006.

Caltrans and the San Diego Association of Governments also have purchased two pieces of land for the river park, including 200 acres at the southwest corner of Highway 76 and Olive Hill Road near Bonsall Elementary School, that cost $11 million.

Trish Boaz, chief of resource management for county parks, said the 143 acres supervisors voted to buy Wednesday feature habitat that "is in very good shape" and is home to several endangered species.

"It's a valuable riparian area," Boaz said. "It won't be open to the public at this point, until we go out there and do biological surveys and further planning for trails."

She said the land is worth $5 million because of its biological value, and that planners are pursuing other sites along the San Luis Rey that are comparable in quality.

"This will bring us close to 300 acres, and we're always continuing in our efforts to acquire land from willing sellers in the area," she said.

County project manager Charley Marchesano said most of the parcel will be preserved as open space, but that a few areas may be available for bird-watching and other passive uses.

Other parts of the park will be developed into "active-use" sites, complete with ballfields, restrooms and equestrian staging areas, among other features. Those sites will be scattered throughout the sprawling preserve, planners have said.

Hiking and equestrian trails would link the various active-use sites, such as a trailhead near Highway 76 and East Vista Way or a sports complex near Dulin Road and Old Highway 395.

The trail network also would connect the communities of Oceanside, Fallbrook and Bonsall along the Highway 76 corridor, so that a person on horseback or on foot could go all the way from east Oceanside to Interstate 15 on county-maintained trails.

But Marchesano said construction can't begin before the county buys more land and finishes an environmental review of the project.

Planners are currently reviewing comments submitted on the first draft of the environmental report, and will soon release another version of the report before it is sent to the Board of Supervisors for approval.

Contact staff writer Tom Pfingsten at (760) 740-3516 or tpfingsten@nctimes.com.


------ End of Forwarded Message