COSTA MESA

Paving over the oldest park in Costa Mesa--and one of the only green spaces near downtown--should be given more thought before the city takes more steps toward building a 10,000-square-foot skateboard park in Lions Park, residents said at a recent public forum on the skateboard park. Residents said the city was taking a “piecemeal” approach to planning. Some said projects to build a new downtown community center, a parking lot on the site of the old center and a 10,000-square-foot skateboard park threaten the green space in the city’s oldest park. If these issues can’t be addressed, the council should look at other options, residents said.