Wetlands Zoning 1st Step

It’s not the boldest action it could have taken, but the Huntington Beach City Council at least moved in the right direction with the approval last week of a “conservation zone” on 142 acres of degraded wetlands along Pacific Coast Highway. While the new zoning does not preclude development, it puts strict limits on it.

It also advances negotiations that finally could put the acreage in public hands, as has been done in other wetlands areas through the use of state conservation bonds. State Coastal Conservancy and other monies then may help begin to undo some of the damage done over several generations to an ecological system that evolved over millions of years.

The Huntington Beach City Council pulled its punch on the wetlands area in this way: The conservation zone, which stretches along Pacific Coast Highway from Beach Boulevard to the Santa Ana River mouth, takes precedence over the original zoning, but does not do away with it.

That leaves the door slightly open for the property owners to partially develop the area.

The city could have made a stronger statement simply by removing the original zoning, but it was fearful of legal challenges from the property owners. With the conservation zone now in place, the city is hoping that a coalition of property owners, environmentalists and government officials can come up with an agreement similar to one fashioned for the nearby Bolsa Chica wetlands. Reached after years of bitter dispute, that agreement allows development in return for restoration of large portions of degraded wetlands.

Restoration is, of course, an agonizingly slow process. But it is possible, as shown in the 25-acre Talbert Marsh near the Huntington Beach wetlands. A year after tidal waters were rechanneled into shallow pools and estuaries there, many more birds, including the endangered California least tern, are using the area as a breeding ground and resting place. Vegetation is returning.

This renewal has quieted arguments by Huntington Beach wetlands property owners that their land is degraded beyond redemption. That leaves only the questions of fair compensation and whether there are some portions of their property that could be developed within the constraints of the city’s zoning and the state Coastal Act of 1976.

The City Council’s vote for the conservation zone was given a standing ovation by an overflow crowd. Some of those who jumped to their feet were newly awakened to the importance of coastal preservation by the recent oil spill, which took its heaviest toll on Huntington Beach’s shoreline.

But many die-hard environmental activists dedicated to wetlands protection also were on hand. The conservation zoning is a personal victory for them, and a first step for the city.