Council goes with trees and vegetation for park

A 2.6-acre park in an Eastside Costa Mesa neighborhood will not include a tennis or basketball court after the City Council unanimously decided late Tuesday night to fill the park mostly with trees and vegetation.

Brentwood Park used to be only 1.5 acres until the city bought Park School — a small, private, kindergarten through eighth-grade school adjacent to the park — and demolished it.

The council approved a vision recommended by the Parks and Recreation Commission and favored by a majority of the nearby residents who spoke up at a series of community meetings.

Many said they were concerned that a park with a tennis or basketball court would create noise and draw people into the neighborhood.

Others argued that sports facilities were lacking on the Eastside and throughout Costa Mesa and the park should serve the needs of the city as a whole, not just a small number of people who live adjacent to it.

In any case, just because the plans are there doesn’t mean that anything will happen soon.

“We don’t have the money to go out and do this tomorrow,” Councilman Gary Monahan said.

— Alan Blank