Initiative would buy the Mesa

Paul Clinton

For the first time in the nearly 30-year battle to keep the Bolsa

Chica Mesa free from a large-scale housing project, funding has been

included in a statewide initiative to buy the land from developers.

The Clean Water and Coastal Protection Bond of 2002, or

Proposition 50, includes funding that would allow local groups to

purchase land in the name of wetlands and watershed protection.

Rather that offering only a vague promise of the funds, the

initiative, which would raise $3.44 billion for projects across the

state, includes a specific provision to provide the funds.

Should the initiative triumph on Nov. 5, it would allocate some

$300 million to Los Angeles and Ventura counties. Any unspent funds

would be given over for “the acquisition of not less than 100 acres

... adjacent to the state ecological reserve in the Bolsa Chica

wetlands in Orange County.”

Developer Hearthside Homes and property owner Signal Landmark have

proposed to build 387 homes on the upper mesa. Bond money could be

used to buy the mesa and set it aside as protected land.

Leaders of the Bolsa Chica Land Trust, who have already endorsed

the initiative along with the Huntington Beach Chamber of Commerce,

said Proposition 50 would be a boon to the effort to purchase the

land.

“Bolsa Chica has been on the radar map for a long time to preserve

it as a state landmark,” said Evan Henry, the trust’s president. “We

have a vested interest, but this is good for the entire state.”

The specific amount of the grant is not clear, Henry said, because

a deal would need to be struck with Hearthside. Also, the land would

need to be appraised by the state.

Hearthside vice president Lucy Dunn refused to comment on the

possible deal.

“I am offering no statement,” Dunn said.

Last week, a group of environmentalists hosted a fund-raiser for

the bond measure.

Former Newport Beach Councilwoman Jean Watt, Crystal Cove activist

Laura Davick and sewage and ficus-tree activist Jan Vandersloot

attended the event, which was held at the Waterfront Hilton Beach

Resort.

Other attendees included Joan Irvine Smith, the heiress turned

environmentalist, and members of the land trust, the group fighting a

housing development on the mesa on the northwestern border of that

city.

Event organizers from the trust raised about $80,000 to promote

Proposition 50.

Bond funding would be made available for projects that reduce

water pollution, cleanup beaches, decrease urban runoff or help

ensure a safe water supply across the state.

“You’ve got to support it,” Smith said Friday. “It addresses water

in a lot of different ways.”

* PAUL CLINTON is a reporter with Times Community News. He

covers City Hall and education. He may be reached at (714) 965-7173

or by e-mail at paul.clinton@latimes.com.