Lot near Bolsa Chica to be restored

Kenneth Ma

HUNTINGTON BEACH -- A Santa Monica developer has until Friday to tear

up a construction staging yard it built on future parkland adjacent to

the Bolsa Chica, a city official said.

New Urban West Inc. was notified last week that the

150-foot-by-150-foot storage yard it built on the future site of Harriet

M. Weider Regional Park is not legally permitted because of zoning, said

Mike Strange, a senior city planner.

“It is an open space area that does not allow for the construction of

a storage area,” Strange said.

Tom Zanic, vice president of New Urban West, said company officials

were surprised to learn about the zoning restrictions, but the company

plans to fully comply with the request.The lot, near Palm and Seapoint

avenues, is enclosed by a 6-foot-high chain-link fence wrapped by a black

plastic tarp. Inside, grass has been replaced by gravel.

The staging area would have housed a temporary field office for the

company, which is expected to finish construction of 53 homes adjacent to

the parkland in January.John Lockington, a company project manager, has

said the company had received a 12-month permit from the county to build

on the lot.

The city’s Public Works Department also issued the company an

encroachment permit to build a driveway for vehicles to enter the staging

lot, Strange said.

However, after neighborhood residents complained in the media, the

city examined the zoning for the area.

Neighbors said construction has damaged a natural habitat area that is

home to owls, blue herons, white egrets, chicken hawks, blue birds and

sparrows.But Strange said the county had designated the area for weed

abatement, and that it has also been illegally used for trash

dumping.Councilwoman Shirley Dettloff, who is also a California Coastal

Commissioner, said the state agency will conduct an analysis of the site

after the lot’s removal to determine what type of restoration work the

company will be required to perform.

New Urban West plans to fully restore the site to its original

condition, Zanic said.