Land Trust takes half

Dave Brooks

Just 48 hours after developer Ray Pacini accepted a preliminary offer

to save the lower portion of the Bolsa Chica mesa from development,

dozens gathered at environmentalists Flossy and Paul Horgan’s home

for an impromptu victory party.

Under the light of a setting sun and red paper lanterns, visitors

sipped chardonnay and laughed as Bolsa Chica Land Trust President

Evan Henry joked about the decades-old stalemate over the wetlands.

“The Land Trust is to Hearthside Homes what Reagan was to the

Soviets,” he loudly declared. “Mr. Pacini -- tear down that fence.”

Last week, Pacini, Hearthside Homes’ chief executive, announced

preliminary plans to sell the 103-acre lower portion of the mesa to

the Wildlife Conservation Board using money from Proposition 50,

Water Quality, Supply and Safe Drinking Water & Coastal Wetlands

Purchase and Protection Bonds.

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.

Amigos de Bolsa Chica members began the fight to save the Bolsa

Chica in the 1970s when some 5,700 homes on 1,700 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 purchased 880 acres of the lower wetland areas

for $25 million in mitigation funds from the ports of Long Beach and

Los Angeles. The restoration of that area, now populated with oil

wells, has been estimated at more than $100 million and will restore

full tidal flooding to the wetlands of Bolsa Chica by cutting an

inlet through the state beach.

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.

The plan could be an end to the 30-year debate over the fate of

the coastal wetlands, although not everyone agrees on the terms.

To Pacini, the acquisition is part of a compromise with

environmentalists to allow development of 379 homes on the upper

portion of the mesa, while Land Trust members are hailing the

transaction as a done deal with no strings attached. The acquisition

won’t be finalized until the board of directors from the Wildlife

Conservation or Hearthside Homes approves the transaction and the

Coastal Commission gives the project a thumbs-up.

Pacini and Hearthside Homes have been before the Coastal

Commission before, most recently in 2000 when a plan to build homes

on the lower Bolsa Chica was thrown out with a majority of the

commissioners ruling that only the upper portion of the Bolsa Chica

should be developed.

Pacini has since redrawn plans and threatened to pull out of the

deal with the Wildlife Conservation Board if he doesn’t get his way.

“There won’t be any exceptions,” he said. “This is a detailed,

specific plan. It needs to be approved substantially the way it is,

or we’re going to have problems.”

That threat was never mentioned during the barrage of victory

speeches at the Horgan party, but neither were plans to actively

oppose development of the upper mesa. Officially, the Land Trust

remains committed to preserving all open space at the Bolsa Chica,

Flossie Horgan said, but the Land Trust doesn’t want to do anything

to mess up the purchase.

“It’s a bitter pill to swallow,” she said. “But our vision hasn’t

changed.”

Neither has their strategy. Huntington Beach City Councilwoman

Connie Boardman said the Land Trust will continue to argue that any

development on the upper mesa must strictly adhere to guidelines set

forth under the Coastal Act.

Staff members’ recommendation on the project is still weeks away,

but Coastal Commissioner Pat Kruer said he’s going to be interested

in how the project coincides with the lower portion.

“No. 1, I’m going to have to take a look at the intensity of the

development,” he said. “It’s going to be very important to ensure

that all habitat corridors stay in place.”

A big concern, Kruer said, is how Pacini plans to deal with a

lineage of trees that serves as a habitat for several species of

predatory birds. Still, he said, Hearthside’s plan to sell the lower

portion will be viewed by many commissioners as a sign of good faith.

“It helps because it allows the Coastal Commission to see a master

plan for our coastal resources,” he said.

Fellow Commissioner Bill Burke indicated the commission might be

eager to end the ugly and tedious debate.

“The Bolsa Chica has become the poster child of what not to do,”

he said.

Some homeowners plan to oppose the development, deal or no deal.

From his second-story patio on Los Patos Street, Ray Sherrard enjoys

a spectacular view of the Bolsa Chica and the Pacific Ocean, which he

would lose if a development went up in front of his home.

“Do we want to ‘Newport Beach’ this precious piece of land, one of

the very few remaining open spaces left in this area?” he said. “This

has made me an activist, and my wife and I are in the fight now.”

Sherrard, a retired federal agent, has begun contacting other

neighbors and is considering hiring legal counsel to help fight the

plan.

Neighbor and Land Trust member Nancy Donaven said she understood

Sherrard’s concerns.

“It pains me to lose this piece of property,” she said. “But I’m

happy that we got the lower mesa.”