Bolsa Chica about more than the birds

In 1992, when the Bolsa Chica Land Trust was formed, the widely

accepted plan for the Bolsa Chica wetlands and mesas was to build

4,884 housing units, with 900 homes on the wetlands and the rest on

the mesas and Shea property. There also was to be a huge road across

the wetlands to connect to the San Diego (405) Freeway. It also

included plans for two huge jetties out into the ocean with an ocean

entrance big enough for small craft, and outfall pipes directly

flowing off the mesa into outer Bolsa Bay to lead to Huntington

Harbor. The land owner, Signal Landmark, owned more than 1,300 acres.

The development plan, called “coalition plan,” was seen by some of us

in the community as too big of a bite.

Orange County is the second most densely populated county in the

state. We are not going to move to Oregon. This is our home region.

So we began a new conversation and asked the question: Can the

community participate in community development?

With nothing more than a dream, we began. How did we do it? You

know, most of you were there. We began to organize and educate

ourselves and the rest of the residents about what was going to be

paved over and lost if we did nothing. We walked the neighborhoods.

We dropped fliers. We sat at tables in front of markets. We spoke in

people’s front rooms. We spoke at public events. We attended

countless city meetings, county meetings and Coastal Commission

meetings. We had a free concert at Bolsa Chica State Beach where

Bonnie Raitt, Pierce Brosnan, Graham Nash and other celebrities

appeared. We sent out letters to all who would listen. We entered the

Fourth of July parades, and the holiday boat parades.

In 1997, after we had won our court case, the developer sold 880

acres of the wetlands to the state for $25 million dollars. Next, we

moved on to acquire the mesas. We redoubled our efforts to get the

Bolsa Chica on the radar in Sacramento. Proposition 50 was the

vehicle by which we were able to identify funds to purchase the Bolsa

Chica Mesa. Last June, the developer agreed to sell the 103 acres of

the lower part of the Bolsa Chica Mesa to the state for $65 million.

And so today, the developer will build 349 housing units on

approximately 60 acres on the upper part of the Bolsa Chica Mesa. As

Ed Mountford, who represents the land owner, said at the Coastal

Commission meeting last week, “ ... over 96% of the property owned by

Signal Landmark will be in public ownership.” The developer will have

received $90 million from the state public funds (not from the city

funds) and be able to build 349 houses. Not bad for the landowner.

The trust and our supporting organizations such as Surfrider,

Huntington Beach Tomorrow, the Sierra Club, Audubon, League of Women

Voters, Coastkeeper, Friends of Harbors, Beaches and Parks and the

Amigos de Bolsa Chica, to mention a few, can be proud that 1,300

acres of the Bolsa Chica wetlands ecosystem are preserved for

generations to come. Our children and their children for generations

will have a functioning coastal ecosystem in which to explore and

recreate.

This is such a huge victory. It was plain old hard work and it was

sustained by dedicated ordinary people. The creativity that came out

of the trust was amazing. We had different political stripes, but

that did not matter one bit. It was the best demonstration of

democracy in action that I have ever been a part of.

The people have prevailed.

A great big thank you goes to all of you who helped bring about

this tremendous victory. No matter at what level you participated --

thank you.

There is still more to do, but that is for another day.

* FLOSSIE HORGAN is co- founder of the Bolsa Chica Land Trust. To

contribute to “Sounding Off” e-mail us at hbindependent@latimes.com

or fax us at (714) 966-4667.