Officials Race for Approval of Seal Beach Development

Days before a new City Council is sworn into office, city officials have rushed to push through a controversial $200-million housing development by holding marathon meetings and voting in the middle of the night.

The Planning Commission met until 2:30 a.m. Thursday to grant approvals for the 329-unit Mola Development Co. project, a major source of conflict in the city for the last four years.

At a boisterous meeting that drew about 100 people Thursday, the City Council met past midnight to consider initial approval of the project, with final approval tentatively scheduled for next Tuesday--the day two new council members are to be sworn in. (The new council won’t vote on any matters until the following meeting.) Officials said that due to the lateness of Thursday’s meeting, the Mola vote could be delayed until Monday.

“I can’t understand why they’re doing this,” said Councilman Frank Laszlo, an opponent of the project. “This is a travesty of the democratic process. I think it stinks to high heaven.”

The Mola development has drawn controversy because it is to be built on 100 acres of historical wetlands, which some environmental activists want to restore. Mola’s project calls for the restoration of 41 acres of wetlands.

The rush toward approval began Monday when Mayor Victor S. Grgas announced at a City Council meeting that he wanted the Mola project approved before the new council takes office. Opponents of the project say Grgas wants to push the project through so the issue will be kept from a new--and possibly anti-Mola--council. A majority of the current council supports the Mola project.

Grgas, who asked for three special council meetings in eight days to vote on Mola’s plans, said current City Council members should be the ones to decide on the development.

“We have been living with this for too long. I think it’s important the outgoing council members be on record,” Grgas said. “It hasn’t been a rush. It’s only been 63 meetings since we’ve been working on this thing.”

Added Councilwoman Edna Wilson: “Since this council has worked with this for four years, I think it’s appropriate for us to make the final decision. I think that’s very important.”

However, at 10:15 p.m. Thursday Grgas gave the first indication that the new council may be allowed to consider the Mola project. He said he intended to ask the council to put off the vote on the project until Monday, allowing for the second hearing to take place sometime after the new council is seated.

But when the audience at the council meeting called for an immediate vote to take the Mola issue off Thursday night’s agenda, Grgas refused. That prompted skepticism from the crowd about Grgas’ intentions. “We don’t trust you,” some people shouted.

The pace of events in the city is sparking outrage and confusion among residents, who told the council at the Monday meeting that its actions were “ridiculous,” “strange” and “more like pornography than democracy.”

Residents booed and jeered the council to the point that the mayor had to repeatedly slam his gavel to restore order in the council chambers.

In a public hearing Wednesday night, residents gave about three hours of testimony asking the Planning Commission to delay its vote. The statements were interrupted repeatedly by applause from the audience.

Mola’s 149-acre project was approved by the city last fall, but Orange County Superior Court Commissioner Ronald L. Bauer invalidated that approval in March because the city failed to update its state-required local housing plan for future housing needs.

Bauer ruled that Seal Beach’s housing plan, which shows how the city will provide homes for residents of all income levels through 1994, had to be up to date before such a major development could be approved.

Seal Beach submitted a revised plan in March, and state housing officials said the document failed to show how the city would provide affordable housing. Mola’s plan then was amended to include 33 low-cost housing units someplace in the city, or a fee to the city that would later be used to provide for low-cost housing.

The city’s housing plan went before the Planning Commission four times before gaining approval about 11:15 p.m. Wednesday. The commission then considered Mola’s plan, which was approved at 3 a.m. Thursday.

However, the approvals did not come without complaints. Commissioner Gwen Forsythe voted against the plan, citing concerns that all the city’s proposals for building low-income housing were on property that might never be developed.

These sites include a five-acre parcel on the Hellman Ranch property that is in oil production and is believed to be contaminated with oil wastes; a five-acre portion of land in the Bixby Ranch Property beneath the flight path of Los Alamitos Armed Forces Reserve Center airfield; four acres owned by Leisure World that are not zoned for residential use, and five acres owned by Rockwell International zoned for commercial use.

“We’re just not coming up with a viable piece of land,” said Forsythe, who won a City Council seat in Tuesday’s election and is one of the two new members who will be seated next week. “(And) it seems like there are so many inconsistencies in the plan. I hate to pass this on and have this as our Bible for future housing needs down the road.”

Development Director Lee Whittenberg said state law requires that the city show a plan for providing low-cost housing, not an analysis of how feasible those plans would be.

“When a developer comes before the city, then we will evaluate that site for suitability,” Whittenberg said, adding that the city can change the zoning of any property.

Laszlo said that before the new City Council is sworn in, he will appeal to the outgoing council to allow the new council to have the final say on the Mola project.