City board seeks approval for Bolsa Chica restoration

Tariq Malik

HUNTINGTON BEACH -- The city’s Environmental Board is hoping to take

its views on a plan to restore the Bolsa Chica lowlands to the City

Council.

Having reviewed a 521-page environmental impact report over the last

few months, the nine board members are preparing an opinion to present to

the council by February.

The report and restoration plan was released in July and is the

combined effort of the State Lands Commission, U.S. Army Corps of

Engineers and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. It outlines seven different

proposals to restore the 1,200-acre marsh, most containing an ocean inlet

allowing water to flow into the lowlands.

Board members supported the idea of an inlet, citing its importance in

drawing in new fish and encouraging wildlife at Bolsa Chica. The board

said it believes the city must take a position either for or against

restoration.

“What we’re really concerned about is the Garden Grove Wintersburg

Flood Channel, which the reports shows is flowing into the wetlands,”

said John Scandura, vice-chair of the board. “It could allow inland

pollutants to flow into the wetlands and flow out to the ocean to cause

beach closures.”

Scandura said one of the major pitfalls of the environmental impact

report is the lack of any direction to clean up the area.

“There have been up to 430 oil wells, present and historically, as

well as several miles of pipeline,” he added. “The contamination clean-up

effort required to counter that oil presence has yet to be addressed.”

Councilwoman Shirley Dettloff, who attended the board’s meeting and

serves as one of two council liaisons for the committee, said the

clean-up plan for Bolsa Chica is part of a process that is continually

being refined.

“Oil has really been a mixed blessing for Bolsa Chica,” she said. “On

one hand, it kept developers from the area while the oil was being

pumped, but now we have to clean it up.”

While many environmentalists would like to see the entire Bolsa Chica

ecosystem preserved, the restoration plan applies only to the lowland

area of the saltwater wetlands and not the mesa.

Last month, the California Coastal Commission scaled back the plans of

developer Hearthside Homes, which had hoped to build 1,235 dwellings on

183 acres, down to 65 acres.

Although the plan’s acreage has been reduced, Hearthside has been able

to secure a water source, an issue of much contention since the city

refused to provide water service to the area.

City officials wanted Hearthside to bring its project into the city,

rather than build on what is now unincorporated land in Orange County.

Instead, the developer brought in Southern California Water Co., whose

plan to build a 6.7-mile pipeline from its Cypress center, through Seal

Beach, Westminster and the city.

The California Public Utilities Commission approved a water plan for

Hearthside in October, as well as a separate environmental impact report

required before any pipe can be laid.