Time to End Batiquitos Lagoon Dispute

Batiquitos Lagoon is dying. Instead of the natural cycle of gradual filling-in that a coastal lagoon should follow, this large, lovely lagoon in northern San Diego County is rapidly drying up. This is due to man’s intervention by building roads and railroads across the lagoon, thus restricting ocean access, and through poor grading practices and upstream development. These things have grossly increased sedimentation problems for the lagoon and hastened its extinction.

A spectacular opportunity now exists to have $15 million spent to restore Batiquitos Lagoon to its original state of daily tidal flushing, with all the benefits this includes. The money would come as mitigation funds paid by Pacific Texas Pipeline Co. and the Port of Los Angeles, which want to build a pipeline through the coastal zone in the Long Beach area. Because there was no appropriate site available in that area to benefit from the required mitigation, Batiquitos was chosen.

The proposed plan, the result of careful study and consultation with hydrologists, biologists, engineers and residents, calls for dredging the lagoon. By dredging on an angle, both deep-water and shallow areas will be created. When the tide goes out, mud flats will be exposed, making available a rich food supply for wading birds. The deep-water areas will allow young fish to grow safely in the lagoon until they are able to survive in the open sea. It is anticipated that the lagoon’s rich variety of annual bird transients will increase with improved food sources from the tidally flushed mud flats. The need to protect endangered species also has been addressed.

As complex as the restoration of the lagoon is environmentally, it pales in comparison with the political problems the project has faced. To begin with, because public monies cannot be spent to enhance private property, the state has ruled that the project cannot go forward unless the land is held in public ownership. The Hunt brothers of Texas own the eastern part of the lagoon and are willing to deed it over to a public agency if they can be assured of getting the necessary permits to develop the lagoon’s north shore. But they are not willing to first give up the land and then risk not being allowed to build their Pacific Rim Country Club and Resort.

On the other hand, the City of Carlsbad, where the Hunt property lies, feels that the lagoon’s restoration and the issuance of building permits are separate issues. The city says the Hunts are using the lagoon as leverage in the pursuit of permits. Pacific Texas Pipeline Co. wants to begin its project and is open to any arrangement that will expedite that goal. The Port of Los Angeles also wants to cooperate to get the mitigation project going, but feels that it has already offered all it can.

So now we have much finger-pointing as to who is to blame for the impasse. Condemnation talk is being thrown around.

We all agree that the project is a good idea. We know that it will take years to do, and only careful attention to detail will assure the restoration’s success. To rush now may lead to expensive errors that will need to be rectified later. Having said all that, the bottom line is that the lagoon is fragile and is dying. It will cost many millions of dollars to restore it to good health. Money like this may never be available again if this project is lost.

I propose that we lock up in a room all the major players, one from each party, and tell them they can’t come out until they reach an honest and effective agreement. No more opportunities for excuses, no more delays. No food or water until a final arrangement is made. (Chaining them to the table is not necessary.)

The public will be the greatest winner if the project is completed, for we will have a natural resource that is alive and well and teeming with life. The Hunts will have a lovely lagoon in front of their development. The City of Carlsbad will have the distinction of having fostered a huge restoration project to a successful conclusion, and will have the benefits of two thriving communities and resorts on the lagoon’s shores. The Port of Los Angeles and PacTex will have the mitigation they need so they can build their pipeline. The port will even get to “bank” extra mitigation credits for future projects.

There are no losers in this project that I can see. So . . . the room is right over here, people, if you will all please come this way!