Pact Saves Bird Habitat Amid South Bay Projects

Attorneys for the Sierra Club, the federal government and Chula Vista development interests hammered out a tentative agreement Wednesday that would preserve the habitat of two endangered bird species while allowing South Bay freeway and flood-control projects to proceed.

The plan emerged after U.S. District Judge J. Lawrence Irving told the parties he was inclined to grant the Sierra Club’s request for an injunction to block the construction projects unless the habitats of the California least tern and the light-footed clapper rail were protected.

If the proposal can be consummated, construction of the four-lane California 54 freeway project, the widening of Interstate 5 and development of a flood-control channel for Sweetwater River could proceed, according to attorneys involved in the discussions.

Meanwhile, the City of Chula Vista and Santa Fe Land Improvement Co. would be barred for two years from proceeding with a planned hotel development on Gunpowder Point, on San Diego Bay south of the river.

Most of the 188 acres of wetlands that the Sierra Club wants preserved for the endangered birds’ protection would become the property of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

Dirt roads through the property--which provide the only access to Santa Fe’s hotel site--would remain in Santa Fe’s hands while the parties continue to litigate their ultimate ownership. But the development firm would be prohibited from upgrading the roads, except to permit access to a nature center being built by the city.

Joan Jackson, chairwoman of the Sierra Club’s coastal committee, described the tentative agreement as “quite a victory.”

“We were there not to stop a project, but rather to assure . . . that the habitat was protected,” Jackson said. “The important thing was to have that land turned over to the United States, so we’re quite pleased.”

Chula Vista City Atty. Tom Horran said the plan appeared to meet Irving’s worries about preserving the wildlife habitats.

“The judge was inclined to grant the injunction because he was concerned about the endangered species there,” Horran said. “These conditions satisfy his concern they will be protected.”

Horran said he would recommend that the Chula Vista City Council approve the pact at its meeting Tuesday. Because the city and Santa Fe already planned to conduct an environmental impact study on the Gunpowder Point project, the two-year delay will not further set back Chula Vista’s bayfront development plans, he said.

While Horran said he was confident that details of the agreement could be firmed up by the end of work today--the deadline set by Irving for submitting a negotiated plan--Justice Department attorney Eileen Sobeck, who represents the federal government in the case, was less certain.

“I don’t know whether this will be acceptable to everybody and whether we’ll be able to work that all out,” she said.

The discussions that led to Wednesday’s agreement stem from a lawsuit filed in September by the Sierra Club and the League for Coastal Protection.

The Fish and Wildlife Service ruled in 1978 that the construction projects would jeopardize the bird habitats unless the 188 acres of wetlands were set aside as a nature preserve. Local officials, however, say transfer of the property into the federal government’s hands has been stalled by court fights over permits for Santa Fe’s bayfront development projects.