Price of land is debated

Environmentalists say Banning Ranch developers are inflating the cost of cleaning up miles of pipeline, dilapidated structures and land to scare off competitors.

Newport Banning Ranch LLC, the company proposing to develop on 400-acre Banning Ranch, estimate it would cost between $30 million and $60 million to remediate to the point where it can be developed, officials said. The company’s proposal was submitted to the city in August and estimates that it would take up to three years to bring the land, which borders Costa Mesa, Newport Beach and Huntington Beach, up to par.

“Once again the developers want to keep everyone off the land,” said Chris Bunyan, a Costa Mesa City Council candidate and member of the Save the Banning Ranch Task Force who wants to preserve all of the land as park and open space.

“Once again they’re floating this high number as a strategy to demonstrate that the whole area is oil-soaked and degraded, which is not the truth,” he said.

City and county officials said the estimated cost appears accurate, but said once you look beneath the ground, all bets are off.

“It could be intimidating in this way: If some agency were to buy that land before it was cleaned up, they’d have to assume the risk that it could cost more,” Newport Beach Mayor Ed Selich said. “Until you get out there and really do it, I don’t think you know how much it’s really going to cost.”

The developer’s proposal calls for 270 acres to remain park or open space, well more than local land-use policies require. Company officials said there is more than 40 miles of oil pipeline to be removed and 100,000 cubic yards of soil to be cleaned before the land could be developed.

Orange County Supervisor John Moorlach said whoever wants to develop the property can clean up the rest of it, too.

“There’s got to be some happy medium ground where those who want to develop” and those who don’t can meet, Moorlach said. “It’s called compromise.”

Banning Ranch Task Force members call for all of the land to remain open space and are trying to raise their own funds to buy the land, which reportedly has been estimated to cost more than $200 million. The city formed a committee earlier this year to work on appraising the land, a first step toward possibly purchasing it.

“I don’t think we have a formal policy, but I wouldn’t support buying contaminated land,” Selich said. “I think it would be irresponsible for anyone in the public agency to buy a piece of contaminated land without knowing exactly how much it’s going to cost to clean it up. When it’s stuff underground you can’t see, there’s always an element of risk of what you’ll find down there.”

“I think they’re floating a higher number [to remediate] on purpose. That’s even more money the conservancy is going to have to come up with,” Bunyan said. He said for his group, “The first step is procurement of the land and paying a fair value for it. The second would be remediation and rehab of the land. A lot of that comes out naturally.”

Newport Banning Ranch LLC submitted plans to develop 1,375 homes, a resort and shops on the ocean-front property.

JOSEPH SERNA may be reached at (714) 966-4619 or at joseph.serna@latimes.com.