Costa Mesa officials this week supported relocating a model airplane field at Fairview Park to mitigate harm to nearby protected species, but hobbyists who have been flying there for more than 60 years insisted it’s already in the best possible location.
Debate over the airfield maintained by the Harbor Soaring Society has been a flashpoint amid plans to update the Fairview Park Master Plan. In addition to relocating the field, a revised version of the document calls for major improvements to trails and other amenities, as well as the rehabilitation and preservation of sites culturally significant to local indigenous communities and local ecosystems.
The airfield is located next to vernal pools that serve as a habitat for two protected species of fairy shrimp. Other rare plants and animals that call the park home include burrowing owls, the coastal gnatcather, Crotch’s bumblebee, the least Bell’s vireo and the Southern tarplant.
“[The California Department of Fish and Wildlife] strongly supports relocation of the model airplane flying field, as its continued operation in the vernal pool complex is in direct conflict with the preservation and management of this important park feature,” CDFW officials wrote in a letter to city officials dated Sept. 26.
Kohl Crecelius, chair of the city’s Fairview Park Steering Committee, backs such a move.
“The real cost of this process is being paid by the rest of our city’s residents who are not getting the park they deserve,” Crecelius said Tuesday at a City Council hearing to consider a draft of the park’s master plan. “So much of our time and energy is being put into the issue of the fly field.”
Crecelius posed possible alternative locations for the model plane club, suggesting the airfield could be moved to two different locations in the park far enough away from the vernal pools, or to Balearic Park, Parsons Field or Estancia High School.
He said a relocation would avoid placing the city “in a position that’s going to involve regulatory involvement, while finding alternative fly sites for HSS. And I think there are viable alternatives.”
Habor Soaring Society President Mat Garcia pointed out the airfield and the community that’s grown around it have coexisted with the species living in the vernal pools for decades. He said no previous study has identified the group’s activities as a direct threat to the habitat and there’s no need to move.
“Glider flying at Fairview park is 61 years old,” Garcia said. “It’s [enjoyed by] families, veterans, teachers, engineers, students and kids.”
Travis Brooks, an ecologist for the consulting firm that helped draft the new master plan, noted that at least one species of bird, the cactus wren, has been pushed out of the Fairview Park area. He said human activities depress and negatively impact nearby wildlife populations, even if they don’t drive them out entirely.
Brooks cautioned that allowing the airfield to remain where it is might make it less likely for state or federal agencies to approve grants to the city for improving Fairview Park.
Garcia accused city officials of prioritizing grant funding instead of protecting a community that has been a part of Costa Mesa for generations. He went on to accuse city officials of providing inaccurate information to the U.S. and California Departments of Fish and Wildlife in order to elicit responses supporting the relocation of the hobbyists’ longtime field.
A total of 195 written comments were submitted about the airfield ahead of Tuesday’s meeting. As many as 155 writers were opposed to the updates in the draft master plan, while 29 supported the document’s proposals. Eleven more offered more general comments on the proposed updates.
Councilmembers Tuesday heard about two hours worth of public testimony on the matter, featuring people both for and against the plan updates, before tabling the discussion for a later date. They’re scheduled to continue debating the airfield’s future at their next meeting on Dec. 2.
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