Collegiate News Service<\/a>, working with student journalists to cover public policy issues across Orange County. If you would like to submit your own student media project related to Orange County civics or if you have any response to this work, contact admin@voiceofoc.org.<\/p>\nThe proposal was brought to the council by the Santiago Creek Commission, an advisory body working toward implementing public projects in and along the creek.<\/p>\n
The plan comes after years of stalled proposals and is highly anticipated by residents and officials. Mayor Dan Slater stated that seven plans have been developed since 1973, and the city has been awaiting the current plan for two and a half years.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI hope this is the time where we finally say we are going to adopt a plan and we are going to implement it,\u201d Slater said at the meeting.<\/p>\n
The plan outlines a series of improvements along the creek, focusing on preservation, expanding amenities and increasing public access.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The commission divided the creek into multiple sections, each with its own set of priorities. During the Feb. 24 meeting, Deputy City Manager Jack Morgan reviewed each section.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The plan for the first segment \u2014\u00a0spanning East Orange to Villa Park Road \u2014 centers on preserving historical sites while expanding and extending existing trails. Potential projects include regular trail maintenance, building bridges and pathways from natural materials and conducting a biological assessment to identify habitats of endangered species.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Plans for the second segment \u2014\u00a0from Villa Park Road to the 55 Freeway \u2014 emphasize the creek\u2019s beauty and add amenities and improvements to enhance pedestrian and e-bike safety. This includes projects such as providing educational opportunities for historic sites and improving trail signage.<\/p>\n
The third segment, stretching from the 55 Freeway to Hart Park, is meant to prioritize increased public access. The plan outlines projects like adding recreational trails along the creek and evaluating opportunities for community gardens.<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/SantiagoCreek_2026_03_Grube-3-1.jpg\")
A child plays near Santiago Creek in Orange, Calif. on March 3, 2026. Credit: NORA GRUBE, Voice of OC<\/p>\n
Pamela Galera, the vice chair of the creek commission, said many of these projects are ready to move forward.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI want to congratulate this council for understanding the gem that we have in our city,\u201d Galera said at the meeting. \u201cMany many cities would love to have a creek such that we have.\u201d<\/p>\n
Councilmembers expressed enthusiasm for the plan\u2019s thoroughness and thanked the Santiago Creek Commission for their attention to detail.<\/p>\n
Councilmember Ana Gutierrez expressed appreciation that the plan was easy to digest.\u00a0<\/p>\n
She also said she enjoyed the plan\u2019s historical and ecological aspects, especially an acknowledgement at the beginning of the document that recognizes Native American tribes were the first ones on the land.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI really appreciate the land acknowledgment,\u201d she said. \u201cTo start with, that page is just powerful.\u201d<\/p>\n
Councilmember Jon Dumitru said he loves what the commission has put forward, stating that the presentation and information were great.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Residents of Orange also expressed strong community support for the plan.<\/p>\n
Adrienne Gladson, who lives near the second segment of the creek, explained that her neighborhood was involved in drafting the potential projects and urged the council to take the time to fully understand each project.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cIt will be implemented because the community will be behind it,\u201d Gladson said.<\/p>\n
The council voted unanimously to approve and adopt the commission\u2019s plan, setting the stage for preservation, restoration, recreation and safety improvements to Santiago Creek.<\/p>\n
Additionally, council members voted to continue the Santiago Creek Commission\u2019s operations.<\/p>\n
Collegiate News Service Editor Angelina Hicks contributed to this report.<\/p>\n
\n\tRelated<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"City officials in Orange are taking the first step towards cleaning up and preserving Santiago Creek after years…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":275011,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[163,165,164,171,53047,105611,119019],"class_list":["post-275010","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-anaheim","tag-anaheim","tag-anaheim-headlines","tag-anaheim-news","tag-orange","tag-orange-city-council","tag-orange-city-hall","tag-santiago-creek"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/275010","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=275010"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/275010\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/275011"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=275010"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=275010"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=275010"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/1776565822_280_VOCCNS-140x140.png\")
<\/p>\n