Developer to Bank $12 Million for Bolsa Wetlands Restoration

Signal Landmark Inc. has announced that it will place $12 million in an account to pay for restoration of 915 acres of Bolsa Chica wetlands in Huntington Beach, a move that some public officials called a potential breakthrough in the area’s development.

But the president of Amigos de Bolsa Chica, an environmental group that acts as watchdog over the marshlands, called the offer a “publicity ploy” by the company, which hopes to build a 1,400-slip marina and 5,700 homes on the land it owns south of Warner Avenue and parallel to Pacific Coast Highway next to Huntington Beach. He said Signal would have to pay for restoration anyway.

The offer by Signal comes as part of a proposed amendment to a controversial state Senate bill that is expected to be considered by the Assembly later this month or early in February.

Known as SB 1517, the legislation would establish a special district to govern the early stages of the proposed marina and housing development in the marshlands.

Monday night, Huntington Beach City Council members will consider Signal’s offer among several proposed amendments to SB 1517.

Postponed Action on Bill

Sen. Marian Bergeson (R-Newport Beach) introduced the bill last year but postponed action on it over concern about who would pay to restore the wetlands--which are in unincorporated county territory but surrounded by Huntington Beach and the ocean--after the area is damaged by development.

“This is an up-front commitment to fund wetlands restoration when lowlands development is commenced,” Russell G. Behrens, who drafted Signal’s proposed amendment, wrote in an explanatory memo. He could not be reached Friday.

Bergeson’s bill provides that $1,800 per unit be deposited in the wetlands restoration fund.

The bluff-top area of the environmentally sensitive Bolsa Chica will be developed first according to a land-use plan tentatively approved by the California Coastal Commission. Then the $1,800 will be placed into the restoration fund from an escrow account as each of the 2,500 homes are sold, Signal spokesman Wayne Clark said, for about $4.5 million of the total $12 million.

The company will be responsible for making up the difference.

“It will be another four or five years before development could begin in the lowlands because of work done by others, namely the Army Corps of Engineers,” Clark said, referring to feasibility studies under way on the proposed marina. “Once that gets to the point where some development can proceed, then this additional $7.5 million gets put (in the restoration fund).”

Signal’s proposed amendment concludes that if restoration of all 915 acres of wetlands is not completed by the year 2018, any money remaining in the fund will be used to finish the operation, Clark said. The language of the Signal amendment does not include specifics for restoration of wetlands versus construction of homes or businesses, as Bergeson’s original bill did, Huntington Beach Councilman Peter Green said.

That, the Amigos de Bolsa Chica group said Friday, is unacceptable.

“We feel that the phasing and ratios are very, very important and that those should be retained (in the bill),” said Vic Leipzig, Amigos president. He is also chairman of the Huntington Beach Planning Commission.

“As far as putting up money, the way we interpret the coastal act (and the county’s land-use plan for the development), Signal is required to pay for restoration of (wetlands) if they are going to destroy 300 acres of the wetlands,” Leipzig said, referring to those marshes upon which homes and the marina will be built.

“So this $12 million is what they would have to pay anyway, and this is a nice publicity ploy to come out with what appears to be a concession as the bill reaches its final critical stages. But it’s really not a concession. It’s simply acknowledgement of their real underlying responsibility.”

While the city has no authority as of yet over the planned development, Bergeson has promised Huntington Beach officials that any amendments to her bill would get their review. Huntington Beach intends eventually to annex the land of the proposed development. The City Council is expected to support or oppose the bill at its Jan. 19 meeting.

Council members and city staff will hold a special study session at 6 p.m. Monday in Room B-8 next to the council chambers to review Signal’s amendment and other proposed additions to the bill, including additions drafted by the city itself.

Julie Froeberg, Bergeson’s chief of staff, called the Signal offer a “significant breakthrough” in the company’s two-decade quest to develop the Bolsa Chica.

“It’s my understanding that building is going to be concurrent with restoration,” Froeberg said. “I’m sure that will be protected in Sacramento, because everybody wants to see the restoration. That’s what this is all about.”