Council gives creek restoration plan its blessing

Bob Borthwick sees Laguna Canyon Creek as a vital habitat for wildlife and plants and hates it when someone refers to it as a ditch or a channel.

That’s why the landscape architect and Laguna Beach resident wants to give the watercourse some tender loving care after years of neglect.

Borthwick presented his and urban designer Lance Vallery’s creek restoration plan to the Laguna Beach City Council last week, and council members encouraged the two men to proceed.

The project area stretches 8 miles from the 405 Freeway west through Laguna Canyon and ends at the Pacific Ocean. The creek spans 5 1/2 of that, beginning just north of Laguna Lakes.

Borthwick, a Laguna Greenbelt Inc. board member, envisions a project-by-project approach that involves different groups, whether nonprofit organizations or clubs, tackling various tasks such as planting trees or other vegetation along the creek, including beautifying the portion that has been turned into a concrete channel.

The creek turns into concrete from the dog park to the ocean.

“It’s a thorn in my side” when people refer to the creek as a ditch or channel, Borthwick said during his presentation. “It’s not the creek’s fault it looks the way it does. It’s our fault for the way we’ve packaged it.”

Invasive plants such as arundo choke portions of the creek north of El Toro Road and downstream near houses, Borthwick said. Development and urban sprawl haven’t helped either, sending tainted runoff from road and building construction to the waterway.

Borthwick and Vallery volunteered over the past 1 1/2 years to develop a plan and garner support from organizations such as Laguna Greenbelt, the Laguna Canyon Foundation and the Canyon Alliance of Neighborhoods Defense Organization, a group of canyon residents dedicated to preserving the area.

This project is separate from other efforts in the canyon. The city is looking at undergrounding utility poles and possibly widening Laguna Canyon Road.

Fellow Greenbelt board member Ron Chilcote encouraged Borthwick to ask the Laguna-based nonprofit Foundation for Sustainability and Innovation for seed money to start the project, and the organization obliged with $5,000.

Borthwick will work with the county to plant sycamore and oak trees and renovate a restroom area at the James Dilley Preserve along Laguna Canyon Road. The preserve is named for the founder of Laguna Greenbelt.

Chilcote said Borthwick’s plan jibes with James Dilley’s goal of protecting Laguna’s hilly open space.

“James was always interested in the creek, always talked about our sources of water,” Chilcote said at the council meeting. “What Bob suggested is capturing our past.”

Borthwick said another project could be creating a walking trail from the canyon north to the James Dilley Preserve parking lot, where visitors could access all of the hiking trails that extend from the area.

Though the undertaking has the council’s blessing, some of the plans come with a bit of red tape.

Portions of the creek pass through private property, so work like pulling out invasive plants would require the property owner’s permission.

The city would need to issue a coastal development permit for tasks such as adding or removing vegetation and adding trails, according to a city staff report.

The California Department of Fish and Wildlife and the San Diego Regional Water Quality Control Board may also need to review other portions of the project, the staff report says.

Borthwick said he hopes to recapture enthusiasm found during past efforts to improve the creek.

In 2006, a group of residents including Borthwick planted 30 trees — 20 sycamores and 10 oaks — near the dog park.

“Everybody was so happy,” landscape architect and former Mayor Ann Christoph said. “They were all enthusiastic. They had something to do to make things better on that particular day.

“It’s a very powerful thing to mobilize people that way, and to give them that hope and that encouragement. Every time they drive by they can say, ‘We did that together.’”

Borthwick said he’s happy to coordinate a movement and put the “right” people together.

“It’s about Identifying projects for people to take and run with,” he said.