Hearthside agrees to sell

Dave Brooks

Hearthside Homes developers accepted a $65-million offer Wednesday

morning from the state’s Wildlife Conservation Board to buy the lower

portion of the Bolsa Chica Mesa, a deal that could bring an end to

the 30-year debate over the fate of the wetlands by protecting them

as a natural reserve.

The agreement, which gained preliminary approval from landowner

Signal Landmark’s board of directors Wednesday, likely will transfer

103 acres of the Bolsa Chica Mesa to the California Department of

Fish and Wildlife and ensure its protection as a natural reserve.

Developers still own the 105-acre upper portion of the mesa and

plan to push forward with the construction of 379 homes. The entire

deal could fall apart if the upper development is blocked at a

California Coastal Commission hearing in August, Signal Chief

Executive Ray Pacini said.

“Indirectly, [the upper and lower portions] are linked, and at the

end of the day shareholders have to approve the sale,” he said. “In

order to get that shareholder approval, it’s also going to be

important to approve [the development].”

Environmentalists originally wanted to purchase the entire mesa

using money from Proposition 50, the Clean Water and Coastal

Protection Bond of 2002. As negotiations progressed, however, the

state board opted to settle for half the property.

“The Fish and Game opinion is that the upper area is not essential

to the habitat connections of the lower reserves,” Wildlife

Conservation Board Executive Director Al Wright said. “In the end,

Signal didn’t want to sell and we didn’t see value in purchasing the

upper mesa.”

Despite securing only half the mesa, the acquisition is being

hailed as a victory by environmentalists and local politicians who

have fought to save the area for more than three decades.

“I’m thrilled; I think it’s a big win for the community and the

environment,” Surf City Assemblyman Tom Harman said. “It’s good news.

I was pleased to be involved in a somewhat modest way trying to push

and push and push.”

Harman brokered the initial deal with former Gov. Gray Davis to

secure Proposition 50 funds for the mesa.

Environmentalists like Shirley Dettloff, a founding member of

Amigos de Bolsa Chica and former mayor and coastal commissioner,

hailed the acquisition as a compromise between conservation and

development and said that she, for one, planned to work with Signal.

“Our position now is that the development must meet all

requirements of the Coastal Act and conform to state law,” she said.

Dettloff and other Amigos de Bolsa Chica members began the fight

to save the Bolsa Chica in the 1970s when some 5,700 homes and 1,200

acres were planned complete with a marina and hotels. The plan went

through a number of changes through the years and has been perhaps

the most contentious land-use debate in the city.

In 1997, the state with mitigation funds from the ports of Long

Beach and Los Angeles, purchased 880 acres of the lower wetland areas

from the landowner for $25 million. The restoration of that area, now

populated with oil wells, has been estimated at more than $100

million.

Over the last decade, the most strident opponents of the remaining

developable land has been the Bolsa Chica Land Trust, an

environmentalist group that has advocated for the purchase of the

entire property. Members of the Land Trust could not be reached for

comment by press time.

The land purchase must now be approved by Signal shareholders and

the Wildlife Conservation Board of Directors. It must also be made

known to the joint legislative budget committee and scheduled for

public hearings.

* DAVE BROOKS covers City Hall. He can be reached at (714)

965-7173 or by e-mail at dave.brooks@latimes.com.