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 Inside, grass has been replaced by gravel.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.
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