Bolsa Chica Timeline

The campaign to restore the Bolsa Chica wetlands and the ongoing battles over development have undergone many twists and turns over the last 10 years. Here are some of the highlights:

 November 2000: The California Coastal Commission limits Hearthside Homes’ 1,235-unit residential project, originally slated for 183 acres, to 65 acres in an effort to preserve land. Hearthside and landowner Signal Landmark file a lawsuit, but the Superior Court judge upholds the commission’s decision in 2001.

 July 2001: A City Council committee votes to approve a plan to install a tidal inlet at the south end of Bolsa Chica State Beach to help restore wetlands.

 August 2001: Hearthside submits a plan to the state and county for 387 single-family homes on the upper Bolsa Chica Mesa.

 November 2001: The Coastal Commission approves the tidal inlet plan.

 May 2002: The Orange County Planning Commission approves Hearthside’s revised plan for 388 homes on 106 acres of the upper mesa, known as Brightwater in Huntington Beach.

 October 2002: The City Council approves Parkside Estates, a 171-single-family-home project from Shea Homes, on a 49-acre parcel that some argue is a wetlands area.

 September 2003: Restoration of 880 acres of Bolsa Chica begins as crews remove 56 oil wells and rigs to make room for native plants and species.

 March 2004: The California Coastal Conservancy approves the final $10 million needed for wetlands restoration.

 June 2004: Hearthside agrees to sell 103 acres of lower mesa to the state for $65 million, though the developer retains its plan to construct homes on upper mesa.

 October 2004: The restoration project has its official groundbreaking ceremony at Bolsa Chica Ecological Reserve, with state and local officials present. Later that month, the Coastal Commission rejects Hearthside’s plan for the Brightwater gated community, telling the developer to return with a more environmentally friendly plan.

 January 2005: Hearthside submits a new plan to the Coastal Commission that eliminates gates around the community and reduces the number of homes to 347.

 April 2005: The Coastal Commission approves the Brightwater plan, ending decades of dispute over the fate of the upper mesa.

 October 2005: Don Goodell, who owns six acres between the Hearthside and Shea properties, says the Coastal Commission’s approval of Brightwater paves the way for residential development of his parcel. Native American tribes protest building on the property, which they consider a valuable archaeological site.

 December 2005: The City Council votes to annex Brightwater. The Department of Fish and Game buys 103 acres of the lower Bolsa Chica Mesa from Signal Landmark, with 15 acres added in January 2006.

 June 2006: Hearthside breaks ground on Brightwater.

 August 2006: The inlet is completed, connecting Bolsa Chica to the Pacific Ocean for the first time in more than a century.

 December 2006: The Orange County Conservation Corps, with state funding, begins clearing non-native vegetation at Bolsa Chica. The large-scale cleanup is the first of its kind since the 1970s.

 November 2007: The Coastal Commission approves Parkside Estates with modifications.

 June 2009: The City Council approves a revised version of Parkside Estates, which still awaits Coastal Commission approval.

 July 2009: The Cogged Stone Site, is named eligible for the National Register of Historic Places.

 November 2009: The City Council approves a pre-zoning requirement to annex the Goodell property.