Bolsa Chica hearing is set

Dave Brooks

The decade-old battle about developing the Bolsa Chica could come to

a close today at a hearing of the California Coastal Commission.

There are plenty of appeals, project denials and civil litigation

that could tie the case up further, but as it sits, all the

mechanisms are in place to end the long-standing land-use debate

between developers and environmentalists.

Getting there won’t necessarily be easy. For the first time in

several years, Coastal Commission staff are recommending approval of

the 349-home Brightwater project, albeit on the condition developer

Hearthside Homes makes 27 changes to its building plans to comply

with the California Coastal Act. Hearthside Homes officials said they

want the project approved as is.

The major debate centers around whether Hearthside should be

forced to increase the size of a buffer between an existing

eucalyptus grove and the planned residential development. Commission

staff said there needs to be 328 feet between the bird habitat and

the homes. Company chief executive officer Ray Pacini said it should

be less than half that distance.

“Those birds are used to people,” he said.

Increasing the buffer area would carve another nine acres off

Pacini’s already greatly reduced development. At one time, Hearthside

had planned to build more than 5,700 homes, several marinas and

hundreds of acres of commercial buildings on the coastal wetlands

running along West Coast Highway. Now, all but 100 acres is being

sold into conservation after decades of political and legal fights.

Pacini said his team was determined to get its project approved

under its terms and not accept a major compromise from the

commission.

“That’s not an approval of our plan,” he said.

The Bolsa Chica Land Trust, the lead environmental group on the

issue, plans to support the commission staff’s recommendation,

arguing that any development on the Bolsa Chica must meet state law.

“We understand the project’s proponents has the right to pursue a

development permit,” said Land Trust spokesperson Evan Henry. “Our

point is to make sure it complies with the Coastal Act.”

Still, Pacini called the buffer limits too restrictive and unfair.

In a news release, he wrote: “The buffers in our proposed plan

average 274 feet, which is greater than the Commission has required

in any other project we have been able to find. There is absolutely

no scientific justification or precedent for their position. Our team

of biologists conducted exhaustive field studies over the last five

years which concluded that our buffers are more than adequate for the

protection of the environmentally sensitive areas.”

The commission will be charged with deciding the right amount of

buffer area. Weighing over their decision will be Pacini’s threat to

pull out of a deal with the Wildlife Conservation Board to use $65

million from Proposition 50, a 2002 initiative to provide $3.4

billion for environmental projects, to sell 100 acres into

conservation.

Pacini has balked on his threat before. In October, he threaten to

nix the deal if the Coastal Commission didn’t approve a larger

gated-community on the same chunk of land. When the commission denied

his application, he reversed course and said he would return with a

scaled-down project.

The latest housing development has shrunk from 77 to 68 acres in

an attempt to create a larger buffer with natural areas and to

protect habitats of endangered tarplant, eucalyptus groves and

burrowing owls. Pacini also agreed to eliminate proposals to

construct parking areas, clubhouses, swimming pools and recreation

areas. Two of the residential models with 4,000- and

7,000-square-foot lots, were also axed

The biggest change was the elimination of Brightwater’s gated

community concept. To meet demands from the commission that the

project not block pedestrian or vehicular access, all sidewalks,

streets and entryways have been made public.

Environmentalists and Hearthside officials also disagree on a

number of other issues including site maintenance, water quality and

endangered species protection. Henry said the fact that Hearthside

has already changed its plan so significantly is a sign that some

kind of agreement can be reached.

“The resubmitted plan is closer to what the Coastal Commission

staff could consider acceptable,” he said. “They felt comfortable

enough to say you’re almost there, but you have to do a few more

things.”

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

966-4609 or by e-mail at dave.brooks@latimes.com.