Seal Beach Council OKs Residential Project on Former Wetlands Site

The Seal Beach City Council, in a rare special session Saturday, approved a long-debated 355-home development project on the old Hellman Ranch site, a former wetlands area.

The special session was called, in part, so that a decision could be made in time for the California Coastal Commission staff to review it at a meeting later this week.

The Mola Development Co., which agreed during negotiations on the project to restore and enlarge the surrounding wetlands, build an 11-acre public park and give the city $1 million, wants to have its plans ready for approval by the state commission at its Nov. 13 meeting.

The housing project, which is north of Pacific Coast Highway and just west of Seal Beach Boulevard, has created controversy since it was first proposed more than three years ago. But only a handful of people showed up to witness the final 3-0 council vote. And only one resident, whose home is near the project, complained.

Carl Sanfilippo, who has sought refinements of the plan at many previous council meetings, asked the council members what their rush was. He urged them to wait until a regular meeting of the council next week.

Mayor Victor S. Grgas explained that the Coastal Commission was meeting in the Southland in November, in Playa del Rey, and that would give Seal Beach residents who oppose the development a chance to attend the hearing. The commission staff, meeting this week, reviews matters before they go before the full commission.

But also, the five members of the council have had a difficult time with a quorum recently because of vacation plans and business obligations.

“This was one of the rare times when we could get three of us together to vote on this,” Councilwoman Joyce Risner said.

Risner and Councilman Joe Hunt approved the project. Council members Frank Laszlo, the only opponent of the development, and Edna Wilson could not attend the meeting. Laszlo is opposed because the new development would be a gated community, and many public officeholders have complained that the city has so many gated areas that it is difficult to reach the voters.

The Newport Beach-based development company originally had proposed a 770-unit project for the 149-acre site. But that plan, which included more than 600 condominium units, was strongly opposed by residents and was voted down by the Coastal Commission last year.

“We have not rushed this; we’ve been at this for 3 1/2 years. We’ve taken our sweet time to get to this point,” the mayor told the small audience. “We’ve negotiated a deal we think is fair to the developer and to the city.”

Councilman Hunt offered another reason for voting as soon as possible: the city stands to make about $50,000 for its redevelopment agency from property taxes raised from the new single-family homes.

“The faster we get going, the sooner that money is going to start rolling in,” Hunt said.

The city council negotiated more than 100 points with the developer. Some include:

* The city no longer will have to lease the Gum Grove Park, the linear wilderness area that is adjacent to the development. The developers will give it to the city. Also, the 11-acre park to be built by the developer will be outside the gated area, open to the public.

* Those seeking municipal office will have a right to enter the gated community. However, in a compromise, the developers retained the right to keep them out if a majority of the homeowners don’t want them.

* Mola will build a road connecting the development to Seal Beach Boulevard.

* Mola promises to restore 26 acres of degraded wetlands on the property and expand them to 36 acres. Mola also promised to return tidal flow to the wetlands and replant native flora.

* The development is contingent on an agreement between the executors of the Hellman Ranch and city officials that the city buy five acres for city use.

“I can tell you today that consummation of the five-acre deal is imminent,” Grgas said.

Grgas also remarked to the few opponents at the meeting that the Coastal Commission may order further restrictions on Mola that might appease some of the residents in the area.

Risner said after the meeting that she was still less than happy with the plan.

“But politics is the art of compromise,” she said.