LAGUNA NIGUEL : Foes Play Hardball on Canyon

With little open space left to covet in Laguna Niguel, sports lovers and environmentalists are eyeing the small canyon wedged between Niguel Road and Street of the Golden Lantern.

The canyon forms the northern tip of the Salt Creek Corridor, the largest strip of open space in Laguna Niguel. The 293-acre corridor, which includes a wetlands area, stretches nearly from San Juan Capistrano to the ocean.

In 1987, as part of a development agreement, 18 acres of the canyon were filled to form Chapparosa Community Park, home to four baseball diamonds, three volleyball courts and three basketball courts.

City officials have proposed using eight more acres of the canyon for two more ball fields and 150 parking spaces. With droves of families moving into Laguna Niguel, the demand for ballparks is endless, officials say. Environmental reports on the plan have already been approved by a city review board.

Members of the Laguna Niguel Environmental Coalition, however, oppose the project. “Ball fields you can build anywhere. Canyons you cannot build,” said member Charles Gorenstein. “We’ve drawn the line. We’ve said, ‘This is as far as they should go.’ ”

Coalition members say the land should be developed only as a nature park with trails, bird observation areas and display areas where children can learn about their environment.

“What we’re trying to do is save the wetlands,” coalition director Art Padgett said. “We want to preserve that area so that one day we can restore it to the way it was 100 years ago, before the grading occurred on the hills.”

Environmentalists say the several miles of wetlands--which stretch from the park site under Niguel Road and toward the ocean--provide a habitat for insects, tadpoles, mice, birds, coyotes and an occasional deer. To preserve the wetlands is to preserve a part of the city’s history, they say.

In response to environmental concerns, the city is scouting for other ball field sites.

Some ballplayers wouldn’t mind having the parks built elsewhere if that were possible, said Susan Penney, former president of Laguna Niguel Little League. “We are very sensitive to the environment,” Penney said. “We want open space as much as everybody else does natural.”