HUNTINGTON BEACH : Approval Predicted for Wetlands Project

A top Army official who toured the Bolsa Chica Wetlands this week predicted a quick and smooth review of a long-debated plan for restoration and partial development of the sensitive coastal area.

The tour of the unincorporated Orange County land near Huntington Beach, conducted by Col. Charles Thomas, the Army Corps of Engineers’ Los Angeles district commander, officially began the complicated review procedure.

“Typically, this is a controversial process, mainly because you have a developer that wants to build out the entire property versus conservationists who don’t want any of it developed,” Thomas said.

“This is the first time I’ve seen anyone pull together a coalition involving (the conflicting interests) that came up with a proposal that makes everybody happy,” Thomas said.

Thomas’ comments suggest that, after 15 years of political maneuvering and bickering over the fate of the 1,635-acre strip of marshland along Pacific Coast Highway south of Warner Avenue, the planned restoration, which could get under way as soon as January of 1991, is progressing.

The project, which calls for up to 1,105 acres of wetlands to be restored and limits residential development to 412 acres, was approved in May by a coalition representing environmentalists, government and the developer, Signal Landmark.

A group representing those interests will organize in a ceremony Tuesday at the wetlands. It will serve as a vehicle for community involvement in the project and monitor its progress.

That group, the Bolsa Chica Conservancy, will be directed by a board made up of Orange County Supervisor Harriett M. Wieder, Amigos de Bolsa Chica President and environmentalist Shirley Dettloff, Signal Landmark President Peter Denniston, state Lands Commissioner Dan Gorfain and Huntington Beach City Councilman Peter M. Green.

The ceremony, scheduled for 2 p.m. at a Sea Point Street site overlooking the Bolsa Chica lowlands, is also scheduled to feature the appointment of Victor Liepzig, a Huntington Beach biologist and former Amigos de Bolsa Chica president, as the conservancy’s executive director.

Before work can begin on the project, approval must be granted by state and federal agencies.

Thomas said it is too early to discuss particular issues that the corps will consider, but he lauded the efforts of the various entities that worked to forge the development compromise.