Hobby aircraft club’s glide at O.C. park is on the skids
Debate over future of Costa Mesa’s open spaces could ground all model plane flights.
complex debate over whether city parks should be used for recreation or preservation is causing some turbulence in Costa Mesa.
Fairview Park — a 208acre open space that’s home to about 30 protected species and has been found to contain artifacts from at least two Native American tribes — is also a draw for people who have, for decades, biked, picnicked and otherwise enjoyed the site.
For instance: the Harbor Soaring Society, a club for aviation enthusiasts and remote-control aircraft fliers. For more than 60 years, members have enjoyed the friendly skies at a model airplane flying field on Fairview’s west side.
Members were displaced in March 2020, when the city closed public facilities as a result of the pandemic. And while Fairview has reopened, the flying field remains off-limits as the city updates the site’s master plan and considers whether airplanes, gliders and drones are compatible with other park uses.
After its latest use agreement expired in December, the society has been looking to re-up the arrangement. Leaders recently put forth proposals suggesting tougher restrictions on operating hours and the types of craft allowed, creating a means of measuring noise, and requiring fliers seeking city permits to undergo certification.
Still, the Fairview Park Steering Committee decided this month not to extend the club’s entitlement. The committee instead suggested possibly relocating the flying field to the park’s east side. Cynthia D’Agosta, administrator of Fairview Park, said the move would reduce the impact of remote-control operators on vernal pools and other wildA life-rich areas on the west side, an area identified for future restoration.
“There’s been action to change direction of management of the park,” D’Agosta said, describing a shift from recreational uses to protection of open space. “So, we’re going to update the master plan to have more of a focus on restoration and biological management.”
Pushing that process forward and considering the environmental impacts of moving Harbor Soaring Society activities could take from three to five years, D’Agosta said.
Society President Mike Costello said that talk of relocation has members worried that it’s only a matter of time before the club is pushed out of Fairview, the only park in Costa Mesa that allows flying. “The steering committee wants us out,” he said. “They just keep stalling us and stalling us, and our membership declines as they put more restrictions on us. I’m going to guess by the end of the three-year evaluation process, they’re going to get rid of us.”
He said Harbor Soaring Society’s 100-plus members run the gamut from retired aerospace engineers to kids interested in aviation and engineering. And while technology has progressed from simple gliders to electricpowered planes and drones, most make sure to keep their park use respectful.
Still, there’s no accounting for novices, or kids who got a drone for their birthday and want to take it out without learning the rules or seeking proper permits.
D’Agosta said complaints from residents and park users have been stacking up over the years.
“Fairview is not your typical neighborhood park,” she said. “It is an open space, nature area that has a lot of floral and faunal activity that is important for Orange County, so it’s got a lot of biological eyes on it.”
Some of the local eyes are members of the Fairview Park Alliance, a preservation advocacy group.
“The remote-control planes shouldn’t be there in the first place,” member Kim Hendricks said. “They definitely negatively impact the birds and wildlife there. And for years the city had overlooked that.”
The city’s Parks, Arts and Community Services Commission will review the steering committee’s decision in a May 27 meeting before making its recommendation to the City Council, which could review the matter as early as June.