Carlsbad May Condemn Hunts’ Batiquitos Land

Eager to clear a logjam threatening the planned $15-million restoration of Batiquitos Lagoon, city officials are considering condemnation action to seize wetland property owned by the billionaire Hunt brothers of Dallas.

The state has asked Hunt Properties Inc. to provide assurances that it will turn over ownership of the land, about three-quarters of the 526-acre lagoon, so the restoration work can go forward.

But executives with the development company, which is planning the Pacific Rim country club and housing project on the lagoon’s northern shore, say they won’t give up the property until their 1,000-acre development is approved by the city and the state Coastal Commission.

Now some Carlsbad officials have started to talk tough, suggesting that steps may soon be taken to acquire the lagoon land through condemnation if the Hunts don’t relent.

“It’s a last resort,” City Atty. Vincent Biondo said Tuesday. “Everyone regrets that condemnation may be necessary. We still hope reason will prevail.”

Biondo said that in recent days he has met with condemnation experts and feels that the 377 acres of lagoon land owned by the Hunts could be acquired in four to six months, quickly enough to make the restoration project viable.

The face lift for Batiquitos was planned to offset damage that a massive pipeline project will cause to coastal wetlands at the Port of Los Angeles. Before the lagoon enhancement can go forward, however, the property must be in public ownership.

Port officials say assurances are needed by November that the Hunts’ land will be acquired. Should that not occur, they say, the firm planning the pipeline, Pacific Texas Pipeline Co. of Long Beach, might be forced to drop the Carlsbad project and begin searching for other sites for the mitigation effort, which is required by state law.

If necessary, the pipeline firm has expressed a willingness to finance the costs of condemnation and to acquire the land, according to Vern Hall, a project manager with the port.

Hunt officials, meanwhile, contend that all the talk about condemnation amounts to little more than an effort by city officials to force concessions from the firm.

“I would think that condemnation would be a very big mistake,” said Larry Clemens, a vice president of Hunt Properties Inc. “I can’t imagine why someone would go that way.”

Condemnation, he said, would chew up valuable time and cost taxpayers money for land that the Hunts ultimately would have given up for free.

Clemens stressed that the quickest way to resolve the snag would be for city officials to hold the necessary public hearings that will allow the Pacific Rim resort to go forward. Once the project receives the required approvals, the Hunts will be more than willing to officially turn over ownership of the lagoon, Clemens said.

Earlier this month, the City Council ordered a halt to planning work on the project until Hunt officials settled their differences with the state.

Although the Hunts say they are willing to grant a “construction easement” to allow restoration work until full ownership is transferred to the state, Carlsbad leaders said that wasn’t good enough. City officials contend the firm’s leaders have failed to honor a June agreement to turn over the land needed for the lagoon enhancement.

Hunt officials said they agreed in June only to the construction easement, not to give up ownership of the land before their project was approved. Such an action would amount to a requirement by the city that a multimillion-dollar gift of land be made as a processing fee, they maintained.

But city officials disagreed, saying they felt that the agreement meant the Hunts were willing to give up the lagoon land, irrespective of how far Pacific Rim had progressed in the city’s planning process.

Since then, the Hunts and city leaders have met with various state agencies, but as yet no final solution has been reached. On Monday, Biondo and Mayor Mary Casler traveled to a meeting in Sacramento with the state officials, but no resolution resulted from the discussions.

In the meantime, the battle of wits has caught the attention of Assemblyman Bill Bradley (R-Escondido). Bradley, who discussed the matter last week with Casler and Clemens, said he plans to talk with Carlsbad council members in hopes of negotiating some sort of compromise.