Perret Park in Lakeland Village opens

By: BRIAN ECKHOUSE - Staff Writer | Sunday, September 16, 2007 12:36 AM PDT ∞

LAKELAND VILLAGE ---- As kids honed their jump shots or waded in Lake Elsinore midday Saturday, Harold and Nancy Burgess of Lakeland Village slowly surveyed the soft earth and breathtaking sight lines of Perret Park.

Finally, they surmised, their small community of 5,200 has a lakefront expanse that's open ---- and free ---- to the public.

"I'm so proud," said Nancy Burgess, 50. "I can come down here, have a barbecue, go fishing and maybe swim. The Fourth of July is going to be wonderful here."

Saturday morning, residents and county officials celebrated Perret's reopening after being shuttered for about seven years. A few hours later, a few families remained at the 4.5-acre park east of Grand Avenue, which has access points at the ends of Blackwell and Perret streets.

In 1999, Lakeland Village and Wildomar residents voted to disband the recreation district that maintained both communities' parks. Some suspected the district's board of mishandling funds.

The next year, the communities' parks were chained closed ---- and remained so until this summer. Wildomar's three parks were reopened earlier this summer.

Perret may have formally opened Saturday, but families have been flocking to the lakefront park for about two months.

"There were a lot of people down here, so we didn't know it was off-limits," said resident Dennis Romero, 37.

Saturday, Romero and his 12-year-old son, Tyler, swam and fished under an intense sun that baked the park ---- which is closer to their home and cheaper than the alternative: buying access to the lake further north.

"This is cool," Romero said of the park, "and we don't have to walk as far."

The park may be free to the public, but it wasn't cheap to rebuild it. The county Economic Development Agency, which oversaw those efforts, spent $3.5 million in redevelopment funds to refurbish Perret.

Most residents were pleased by their sudden bounty. Harold Burgess, 56, was ---- but he's already hoping for more parkland.

"This should just be the beginning," said Burgess, who is a member of a local parks group. "As Lakeland Village grows, park usage grows. And this easily will be overcrowded once people start using it. There'll be a need for more."

Not everyone was pleased with the park, however.

Cindy Sunberg, a resident who lives on Blackwell, has complained for months that the park would appeal to druggies, drunks and the homeless.

On Perret's first day, alcohol was already seen on-site.

Paul Ramsey, a frequent visitor to Lakeland Village, sat at a table in the shade, with a 40-ounce bottle of open beer in hand.

The Big Bear resident, 58, took issue with the county's rule forbidding the use of alcohol and drugs and the act of smoking at Perret.

"This is not Santa Monica beach, which is where I used to live," Ramsey said.

Sitting at an adjacent table under a tented roof, 32-year-old resident Yaneth Puente and her three children couldn't be bothered by Ramsey's sentiment. Nothing, it appeared, could negate her sunny mood.

"I like the view," said Puente, smiling as she gazed out at the lake. "And it's not too far from my house."

Contact staff writer Brian Eckhouse at (951) 676-4315, Ext. 2626, or beckhouse@californian.com.