Coastal Panel Staff OKs Project Near Crystal Cove

Plans to build 635 homes above Crystal Cove State Park cleared a major hurdle Friday when the California Coastal Commission staff recommended approval of the controversial project if the developer agrees to a laundry list of restrictions.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has expressed concerns about drainage and runoff, however, which could sway state officials weighing the Irvine Co. project.

The Coastal Commission is to decide at its August meeting in Huntington Beach whether Orange County planning officials improperly approved the developer’s plans for handling runoff from the project and whether the county-approved permit violates the area’s state-approved coastal plan.

The 87-page staff recommendation, which is not binding, says the most recent proposal will conform with the Coastal Act and the area’s state-certified coastal plan if the developer follows 17 special conditions concerning wetlands, runoff, erosion, beach replenishment and grading.

Irvine Co. officials would not comment on specifics of the report.

“The folks here in environmental affairs have not yet received a copy of the staff report,” said Rich Elbaum, spokesman for the developer. “When they do, they’ll obviously review it closely . . . before reacting to it.”

The main obstacle to the project has been diversion of urban runoff--the fertilizers, chemicals and pollutants that are swept off streets and lawns into storm drains and eventually the ocean. Environmentalists and the EPA have expressed concern that the project’s runoff would harm protected waters and reefs off Crystal Cove, a fragile marine ecosystem between Newport Beach and Laguna Beach.

The EPA remains concerned about the project because it would require filling six miles of natural drainage channels and would generate urban runoff, according to a July 17 letter from the agency to the commission. However, the commission noted that the developer is compensating for the fill with the creation of wetlands and riparian habitat, which would enhance water quality.

The company’s plans for the runoff have changed considerably. Originally, runoff would have flowed down Los Trancos and Muddy Canyon creeks, across the state beach and into the ocean. Then the developer proposed a water-quality package that included diverting summer flows into a sewer system, placing filters in catch basins, using street-cleaning vacuum machines, installing detention basins to catch storm flows and other measures.

But commission staff still objected because of the proposed placement of a detention basin in Muddy Canyon Creek, which is within a protected, environmentally sensitive habitat area. The basin would have held runoff during periods of heavy rain to prevent a rush of water from eroding the beach and polluting the ocean.

The area’s coastal plan requires that development be 50 feet away from sensitive habitat streams and that detention basins be within development areas or tributary drainages--not major streams.

In the most recent plan, the developer deletes the basin and adds four others in the residential development and one in a commercial area.

The Coastal Commission, which has jurisdiction over local planning decisions that fall within the coastal zone, decided to scrutinize the project in October. In January, the commission delayed ruling on the project after the developer requested postponement because the commission’s staff had recommended denial.

Times staff writer Mai Tran contributed to this report.

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One Step Closer

The California Coastal Commission staff recommended the agency approve a long-contested piece of the Crystal Cove development in its August meeting if the Irvine Co. agrees to 17 conditions.

Source: The Irvine Co.