Last-Minute Snag Blocks Batiquitos Lagoon Pact, at Least Temporarily

A last-minute proposal to develop a freshwater pond for migrating waterfowl at Batiquitos Lagoon blocked an expected agreement Tuesday on a $15-million project to restore the lagoon.

Larry Clemens, spokesman for Texas oil billionaires W. Herbert and Nelson Bunker Hunt, who own a large portion of the lagoon and property surrounding it, said the proposal threatened the tentative agreement reached by landowners, governmental agencies and environmentalists.

Clemens, vice president of Hunt Properties Inc., protested that the 30-acre freshwater marsh in the northeastern sector of the saltwater lagoon “just suddenly appeared on the map” and was “something there that was not there before,” when the tentative accord was reached.

He also criticized the plan because it would require a dike to protect the freshwater pond from an infusion of brackish water from the ocean tides. The dike would add an unaesthetic man-made feature to the natural lagoon, Clemens said.

But Don Lollock, a state Department of Fish and Game representative, refused to back down, citing the need for such a wildlife resting area in any plan that would bring the damaged lagoon back to its natural, healthy state. Before developers had objected to the lagoon enhancement plan, Lollock said, the entire eastern end had been proposed as a 140-acre freshwater pond, requiring a dike across the north-south width of the lagoon.

“We have squeezed it down to this very small area, which is the minimum we can get by with,” Lollock said.

Clemens was mollified when state Coastal Conservancy executive Laurie Marcus scheduled another meeting in Sacramento to iron out differences between the Fish and Game official and the Hunt properties representative.

Clemens explained that he did not oppose the creation of a freshwater pond in the eastern end of the lagoon, but believed that it could be combined with a sediment and flood control project at the confluence of San Marcos and Escondido creeks. Lollock questioned whether the two projects could be combined but agreed to look at any alternative Clemens’ engineers might design.

The multimillion-dollar lagoon enhancement program will be financed in large part by the Port of Los Angeles as mitigation for a development it seeks to place on tidelands in its harbor. Because there are no remaining wetland areas within the Los Angeles Port District area, commissioners offered the mitigation funds for enhancement of Batiquitos Lagoon, nearly 100 miles to the south.

Vernon Hall, representing the Port of Los Angeles, urged the state, local and federal officials to speed up their planning. Until the lagoon enhancement plan is completed and accepted, port officials cannot begin on their own development.

The ocean entrance to Batiquitos Lagoon has been blocked because of years of siltation, causing the lagoon to dry up in the summer. The enhancement plan would reopen the ocean entrance and, through dredging of 3.5 million cubic yards of silt, create deeper water along the northern edge of the lagoon and shallow bird-habitat areas along the southern and eastern edges. Restoration of the tidal flow into the lagoon is expected to keep the wetland in a healthy, natural condition.

Also planned are creation of three least tern nesting areas on 34 acres, placement of 2.5 million cubic yards of sand dredged from the lagoon on Carlsbad beaches north of the lagoon mouth, development of a nature trail along the northern edges of the lagoon, and restoration of 130 acres of salt marsh.

Clemens, at a news conference earlier Tuesday, announced that the Hunt Properties plans for a 1,400-acre Pacific Rim Country Club and Resort had been scaled down at the request of Carlsbad city officials. Nearly 1,000 homes planned for the resort-residential community on the north shore of the lagoon have been deleted, he said.

The new plan calls for 4,555 homes, which he said is well within the Carlsbad general plan guidelines for the property. Also planned is a 254-room hotel with 202 conference suites and villas, 12 tennis courts, two swimming pools, a health club, a golf course and two restaurants. A 20-acre park and 10-acre school site will be dedicated for public use.

Representatives of Sammis Properties, which plans to build a 168-acre graduate university and residential development on the bluffs north of Batiquitos Lagoon, voiced no objections to the compromise lagoon enhancement plan at Tuesday’s meeting.

Both Sammis and Hunt officials must approve the lagoon project before it can be implemented by the City of Carlsbad.