County planners OK Bolsa Chica construction

Danette Goulet

It began as a plan to build 5,700 homes and a marina on 1,700 acres of

land. Now Hearthside Homes’ plan calls for 388 homes to be built on

106-acres of land.

The significantly scaled back plan gained unanimous approval last week

from the Orange County Planning Commission. It was the fourth time the

commission approved a plan to build on the Bolsa Chica.

Known as the Brightwater project, the latest plan would build 388

homes on the upper mesa -- an area the California Coastal Commission has

already given Hearthside Homes permission to build on.

Still, the decision may not turn out to be the end to one of Southern

California’s longest running environmental battles.

Members of the Bolsa Chica Land Trust, a group formed with the purpose

of buying the land from Hearthside Homes, promise to keep the fight

going. Land trust members have said they will appeal the Planning

Commission’s decision to the Orange County Board of Supervisors.

The decision had yet to be appealed as of Wednesday, said Ron Tippets,

chief of public projects for the county.

If it is appealed, the board of supervisors would then have the option

of upholding the appeal, sending the project back to the Planning

Commission or denying it, in which case the project would move on to the

Coastal Commission for approval.

Most times, Tippets said, the board will send projects back to the

Planning Commission.

Those who started the fight more than three decades ago can scarcely

believe how far they have come in winning the battle.

Councilwoman Shirley Dettloff, who now sits on the Coastal Commission,

was one of the first to take up that battle and an original member of

Amigos de Bolsa Chica.

“When we started 35 plus years ago, the areas of the mesa were

considered to be areas that could be developed,” Dettloff sad.

At the time the group was only interested in saving the wetlands. But

that changed, she said, as they learned about the environmental

relationship between the wetlands and the mesa.

“Time has definitely been on our side,” Dettloff said. “When we

started people were unsure about concept of saving wetlands even, because

Huntington Harbour was created with nary a problem.”

Unless an appeal is filed plans for the Brightwater project will now

go to the Coastal Commission for approval. Dettloff said she as not yet

seen the plans and so can not comment.