The meeting room at Palm Harvest Church on Wilson Street, east of Placentia Avenue, buzzed with conversation among dozens of friends and strangers from the communities of Costa Mesa, Huntington Beach and Newport Beach who filled the space Monday night. While many eyes were glued to Game 3 of the World Series, those gathered were fixated on a different victory for Southern California: the transformation of a nearly 400-acre former oil field into one of Orange County’s largest nature preserves.

The meeting was a workshop and panel discussion designed to teach the public how they can participate in the planning of the Frank and Joan Randall Reservation. It was the first public event organized by the Coastal Corridor Alliance, one of the organizations that helped unite the community around the creation of the nature reserve. It was also a major milestone in what has been a 25-year effort, said alliance president Terry Welsh.

“We still can’t get over the fact that we saved the area, that the community as a whole saved the area,” Welsh told the Daily Pilot in a phone interview Tuesday. “It is a joy from which I have not yet come down. Last night, what you saw was people showing up… there is interest in the community. People really want to see this succeed.”

Brian Baldauf of the Mountain Conservation and Recreation Authority holds workshops with community members about the future of Randall Preserve at Palm Harvest Church in Costa Mesa on Monday.

(Eric Licas)

An ambitious goal achieved

The process of securing the Randall Preserve began in 1999 with the creation of a Sierra Club task force intent on saving at least part of the former oil field. The 387-acre parcel was known as the Banning Ranch and sought after by developers hoping to capitalize on what had been one of the last remaining tracts of undeveloped coastal Orange County real estate.

Around 2006, a proposal by a development group called Newport Banning Ranch to build nearly 1,400 homes, a hotel and retail space on the land began to gain traction, Welsh said. After years of back-and-forth and revisions that narrowed the scope of the plan to about 900 units, the Newport Beach City Council approved an environmental impact report for the project, clearing one of the last hurdles to its construction.

Meanwhile, Welsh and members of the task force created the Banning Ranch Conservancy, an independent nonprofit that works to preserve the undeveloped space. That group, which eventually became the Coastal Corridor Alliance, filed suit against Newport Beach challenging the environmental report. It won a unanimous decision by the California Supreme Court in 2017.

In addition, the construction plans were rejected by the California Coastal Commission in 2016. During a roughly nine-hour hearing, commissioners noted a disconnect between developers and community members.

“Between the Coastal Commission’s refusal and the state Supreme Court’s decision, owners and developers have been somewhat restored,” Welsh said. “And at that point, I didn’t know what they were going to do. He could have come back with a smaller project. The Coastal Commission never said you can’t build on this property, you just can’t build something this big (as the plans called for).”

Following those two victories for the conservation effort, the nonprofit Trust for Public Land entered into negotiations with the owners of Banning Ranch about selling the property to those who wanted to turn it into a nature preserve. Their asking price was 97 million dollars.

Coming up with all that money was daunting, Welsh said. But a pivotal $50 million contribution from the new preserve’s namesakes, Frank and Joan Randall, made it possible. The Trust for Public land was able to secure the remaining $47 million with grants and funding from a variety of different organizations.

“There was a huge question mark about where we could ever get the money to buy this property,” Welsh said. “… That changed everything. Suddenly, the discussion took off, agencies became interested in helping. Frank and Joan’s donation is the most important thing that has helped this effort. We should always be grateful for them and I am glad that the site will be named after them. They should always be remembered for their good deed.”

Joan and Frank Randall donated $50 million to help transform a 400-acre former oil field into a nature preserve.

(Photo file)

Establishing the foundations of a dream come true

The Trust of Public Land completed the purchase of Banning Ranch in December 2022. The property was later turned over to the Mountain Conservation and Recreation Authority, a public agency that manages local public open spaces. The agency is the current owner of the property and will develop and maintain the Frank and Joan Randall Preserve in partnership with the Coastal Corridor Alliance and other organizations.

The trust works with state, county and city officials, as well as a variety of nonprofits and the public to shape the future of the preserve. At Monday’s workshop, people learned how to provide input into the process and received tips on how to submit more useful comments.

Those interested in the process can submit early comments and questions to planners through the Coastal Corridor Alliance website. Another workshop will be hosted for the public on Thursday.

Environmentalists are simultaneously writing four plans outlining how the public will access the space, how best to sustain the delicate habitats it contains, strategies to mitigate the effects of climate change, and protect artifacts and sites considered sacred to the Tongva and Acjachemen communities who originally lived in the area. They hope to have drafts available for members of the public to view and weigh in by April.

“We’re all very excited about this because we see it as more outdoor space and more opportunities for people who live in our community to get outside and have a park,” Matt Kliszewski of Newport Shores Home Owners Assn. the Daily Pilot said after Monday’s meeting. “So it’s going to be great, just, a lot of questions about when and how.”

The park’s development timeline and how soon it might open were the most popular topics among attendees. Maintenance and cleaning of the reserve has also been raised by local residents concerned about the potential for litter left behind by visitors once the reserve becomes available to the public. Others expressed concern about the possibility of homeless people setting up encampments in the area.

Decommissioning oil rigs and other equipment, and removing contaminants left over from drilling in Banning Ranch are other issues that must be addressed before the park opens. Fortunately for the conservators, the seller of the property has taken responsibility for these tasks and is covering the clean-up costs. That process could take about another year and appears to be moving forward on schedule, Welsh said.

But despite a number of questions and concerns that need to be cleared up, the future of the former Banning Ranch as Orange County’s newest nature preserve now seems all but certain.

“I honestly assumed it would be built,” said Lesley Hill, manager of the Environmental Mitigation Program for the Orange County Transit Authority and a lifelong Orange County resident, after Monday’s meeting. “Living in Southern California and Orange County, that happens.

“Here we have this amazing property that’s not going anywhere,” she continued. “I love it. I have three kids now, and hopefully one day soon I’ll be able to walk the property with them. And if my kids stay in the area, they’ll be able to walk the property with their kids. For me, that’s a legacy.”

A neighboring housing development is seen through an oil pipeline expansion loop at the planned site of the Frank and Joan Randall Reservation.

(Allen J. Schaben/Los Angeles Times)

A huge, contiguous boon to struggling species and habitats

The space once known as the Banning Ranch has approximately 100 acres of marsh, swamp and riparian scrub and 67 acres of coastal sage scrub. It hosts owls, fairy shrimp, peregrine falcons and other species sensitive to the effects of human development on the environment.

The planned 387-acre preserve will expand an existing area of ​​green space that includes neighboring Talbert and Fairview parks. The inclusion of the Frank and Joan Randall Preserve will mean a contiguous 1,000 acres of coastal Orange County will be reserved for future generations to enjoy and learn from, Welsh said.

“The larger the area, the more likely the ecosystem is to survive,” Welsh said. “It doesn’t survive very well when it’s broken into small fragments. But when you have 1,000 acres of contiguous open space, there’s a chance that the animals there will balance out and survive.”

A bird’s-eye view of what will now be called the Randall Reservation.

(Courtesy of Banning Ranch Conservancy)