City will appeal court’s order

Jenny Marder

The city will appeal a superior court order that demanded it approve

a water pipeline to the proposed Brightwater development or give

explicit reasons as to why it is denying it.

A judge ruled last month that the City Council needs to reconsider

its Aug. 4, 2003, denial of a franchise agreement with Southern

California Water to allow for a seven-mile pipeline that would

deliver water to the 388 homes developer Hearthside Homes is planning

to build on 107 acres of the Bolsa Chica Mesa.

The City Council decided 5 to 2 in closed session on Tuesday that

it would appeal the December ruling that said unless it can prove

that the application is deficient or that the company is violating

state or local law, it must approve the agreement.

Councilwoman Connie Boardman said she voted to appeal the court’s

ruling because the proposed Brightwater project has not yet been

approved for development.

“There is no project,” Boardman said. “It’s premature for our

staff to spend time working on a franchise agreement for a project

that doesn’t exist.

“It seems to me that trying to bring this franchise agreement to

fruition before there’s a project is backward,” she said.

The pipeline would run underground from Cypress to Huntington

Beach, snaking through Garden Grove, Westminster and Seal Beach on

its way.

The City Council denied a franchise agreement last year, claiming

that the company could pursue other avenues such as eminent domain to

build the pipe.

Councilman Dave Sullivan wants the council to stick to its guns.

“It doesn’t make sense to get water for 400 homes to come from a

remote area,” he said. “The community will be furious, and the flow

of traffic will be impacted for months.”

If the franchise agreement is not approved by the city, the

company will seek eminent domain, officials say.

“While we would certainly like to settle all issues, we are

prepared to go that route also,” said Lonnie Curtis, manager for the

water company’s Orange County district.

Hearthside’s proposal to build homes on the Bolsa Chica Mesa has

been decried by many environmentalists, who for years have been

pushing to have the land purchased with state grant money and set

aside as a nature preserve.

Purchase of the Bolsa Chica Mesa was singled out as a state

priority in the language of Proposition 50, the Clean Water and

Coastal Protection Bond of 2002. The state’s Wildlife Conservation

Board has been appraising the land to determine its value since March

2003.

Hearthside Homes turned to Southern California Water rather than

seeking water from the city, since the project would be built on

county-owned land.

Along with environmental opposition to the development, residents

are concerned about the effects that digging a trench down Bolsa

Chica Street will have on the area.

Bolsa Chica Street, which leads to both the San Diego and the

Garden Grove freeways, is one of Huntington Beach’s busiest

thoroughfares.

“It’s a big concern of mine because a whole section of the city

goes up Bolsa Chica Street,” Sullivan said.

Southern California Water company officials estimate that three or

four months of the 10-month construction project will take place in

Huntington Beach.

“There will be traffic impacts, but they will try to be mitigated

as much as possible,” Curtis said. “We look forward to moving the

project forward for development of this property.”