Delay sought on Bolsa hearing

Dave Brooks

Developers have asked the California Coastal Commission to reschedule

a public hearing scheduled for today on a proposal to build homes on

65 acres of the Bolsa Chica mesa.

Ray Pacini, chief executive officer of developer Hearthside Home,

said he requested the delay after commission staff recommended denial

of the Brightwater Development. Commission district manager Teresa

Henry argued in a recent report that the development restricted

public access and would be hazardous to environmentally sensitive

areas.

Pacini said the area’s landowner, Signal Landmark, would make

several small adjustments to the design of the housing development,

but would refuse to make any major changes. Instead he said Signal

Landmark would focus on a legal rebuttal to the commission’s staff

report and would attempt to prove that the 379-home development was

within the confines of the Coastal Act.

“This is primarily a response,” Pacini said. “There’s not going to

be any major changes.”

The plan is now set to go back before the commission during the

second week of October in San Diego.

Without commission approval, Pacini said his shareholders wouldn’t

support a plan to sell 103 acres of the lower portion of the Bolsa

Chica mesa to the California Wildlife Conservation Board using

funding from Proposition 50, the Clean Water and Coastal Protection

Bond of 2002.

Pulling out of that deal could jeopardize nearly $65 million in

state bonds that have been earmarked for the purchase, and, some

argue, mark the last chance for Signal Landmark to ever sell the

property. In 2000, the Coastal Commission ruled that the lower

portion of the Bolsa Chica mesa could not be developed, but Pacini

said that decision no longer holds weight because the County of

Orange never acted on the decision.

Technically, Pacini argues, Signal Landmark can still build homes

on the lower portion and is taking a big loss by selling the property

for only $65 million. If the commission doesn’t approve the

Brightwater development on the upper portion, Pacini said Signal

Landmark would scrap the conservation sale and push through plans to

develop the entire Bolsa Chica mesa.

Members of the Bolsa Chica Land Trust are carefully following

Brightwater as it works its way through the Coastal Commission.

“I’m just hopeful that the staff and developer can come to an

agreement that conforms to the Coastal Act,” Land Trust member Flossy

Horgan said.

Approval for the upper mesa plan faces many barriers. Henry argues

that the development infringes on environmentally sensitive habitats

of endangered tarplant and burrowing owl habitats, and encroaches on

a Eucalyptus grove. She also said the gated community Pacini is

developing restricts public access to most of the Bolsa Chica mesa.

Pacini said Signal Landmark plans to improve pedestrian and

bicycle access to the wetlands, but disagrees that the project is

harmful to endangered species.