City boosts Bolsa price tag

Though angry, developer appears to have little choice but to acquiesce.The city has tacked on an additional $1.5 million to a deal to annex 349 homes on the Bolsa Chica into Huntington Beach.

Councilman Keith Bohr said he didn’t think the city was getting enough money from the original agreement negotiated between city staff and developer Hearthside Homes. Bohr said the additional $1.5 million would be offset by millions of dollars Hearthside was saving by getting to tap into the city’s water supply.

Developer Ed Mountford was angry with the increase, but he appeared to have little recourse to fight it.

“I would not be in favor of supporting an increase in the contract,” he said before the council narrowly voted 4-3 to annex Hearthside Homes. Council members Don Hansen, Gil Coerper and Cathy Green voted against the proposal, arguing it was a bad way to conduct negotiations.

Mountford’s only alternative is to reject the annexation and pay for a costly pipeline to import the water; Mountford estimated it would cost about $8 million. City engineers pegged the amount closer to $14 million.

Hearthside planned to pass some of that savings on to the city and pay $6.5 million in annexation fees to get the deal moving. Mountford said he would also indemnify the city from any potential lawsuit that might occur from breaking its agreement with Golden State Water Co. to build the original pipeline.

Still, city leaders said the $6.5 million wasn’t enough. Normally a development the size of Brightwater would generate as much as $19 million in fees, $11 million of which would go to park space. Hearthside received a small break because it had to dedicate so much sensitive habitat to conservation, but Bohr said he was still unhappy with the offer.

“I think there is still too much money left on the table between the cost of the pipeline and the [estimation] of what the liability would be,” he said.

City officials also tacked on a clause in the agreement that blocked annexation until Hearthside completes the sale of the lower portion of the wetlands to the Wildlife Conservation Board.

Mountford said he is waiting to receive the permits for that project from the California Coastal Commission, which would take a couple of days. He has to close escrow on the sale by Dec. 31.

Councilwoman Debbie Cook said she was happy environmentalists were able to save most of the Bolsa Chica over the last three decades, but was saddened to see the remaining 103 acres developed into homes.

“No amount of fees or property taxes could make up for the loss of a national treasure like Bolsa Chica,” she said.