Local News in Brief : Huntington Beach : Council Delays Decision on Bolsa Chica District

The City Council announced Wednesday that it will postpone any decision on whether to support or oppose controversial state legislation that would establish a governing district for development of the Bolsa Chica area.

The delay, caused in part because the City Council has not seen a final draft of the bill, will force cancellation of Monday’s scheduled public hearing on the legislation--Senate Bill 1517--at the council’s regular meeting.

“Further consideration by the City Council of proposed Bolsa Chica legislation will be shelved until the outstanding issues concerning SB 1517 are resolved in Sacramento,” Mayor John Erskine said in a prepared statement, referring to the bill authored last year by state Sen. Marian Bergeson (R-Newport Beach).

“Our feeling is that that’s a wise and prudent decision, and we’ve been urging them to follow that course,” said Kevin Sloat, Bergeson’s administrative assistant in Sacramento. “It doesn’t make any sense to hold public hearings on a bill that is in a state of transition.”

The bill would establish a special district that could levy fees and govern early stages of a development planned by Signal Landmark Inc. The project includes 5,700 homes and a 1,400-slip marina. The site involves environmentally sensitive wetlands, 915 acres of which would be restored as a condition of project approval. The development is located south of Warner Avenue, parallel to Pacific Coast Highway, and is surrounded by Huntington Beach but falls within an unincorporated area administered by the county.