WILDOMAR -- Residents attending a presentation Monday on proposed future parks in Wildomar generally agreed the community needs to approve a vote coming this summer on a $45 parks maintenance fee.

The parks in Wildomar were closed several years ago after residents rejected a $25 a year fee in 1999 by the now-dissolved Ortega Trails Recreation and Park District.

Members of the Wildomar Parks Formation Committee appealed to the audience for help promoting the parks fee, which would pay for upkeep of three shuttered parks, Marna O'Brien, Heritage Regency and Windsong, and a future 10-acre park near Susan Drive and La Estrella Road east of Interstate 15, Parks Committee Chairman John Lloyd said Thursday.

"My kids need parks," alternative committee member Susan Lane said. "If this does not pass, we won't have parks. It's that simple."

In addition, the proposed annual maintenance fee is a good deal compared to what neighboring communities pay for parks, Lane said.

County officials said home owners in Menifee pay $75 a year for parks and recreation while homeowners in Temecula pay hundreds of dollars annually for parks and recreation services.

The difference is that Wildomar will not be voting to get the recreation component, said Bill Brown, operations manger for community services division of the county Economic Development Agency. The recreation activities can come later, for additional money, but the vote this summer is only for upkeep of the parks, Brown said.

Several residents attending the meeting agreed with the committee that Wildomar needs parks, but had questions about how they would be run and who would have to pay for them.

Resident Gidget Giles asked how the county agency could handle security at the parks.

Brown said the county uses outside contractors for security, but makes sure they don't just drive by the park without checking it. The security has to trigger a scanner, usually located by the restrooms or water fountains, which forces the security guard to get out of the car and walk through the park, he said.

In addition, as soon as graffiti is reported, it will be removed the same or the next day, Brown said.

Resident John Cautacessi said he is concerned that he would have to pay an assessment for a vacant lot he owns.

Brown said the maintenance fee would just be charged to homeowners. Owners of vacant lots will not have to pay the fee, but will have to pay for land they own with a home on it, he said.

Mail-in ballots will be sent to homeowners in July. They will need to be returned by Aug. 29.

The committee is planning a rally June 24 to show support for parks in Wildomar.

Committee member Bridgette Moore said the rally will begin at 10 a.m. at Wildomar Elementary School. Parks supporters will walk to the new ball fields on Gruwell Street, on land loaned by the Wildomar Cemetery District, Moore said.

- Contact staff writer Laura Mitchell at (951) 676-4315, Ext. 2621, or lmitchell@californian.com.