SEAL BEACH : Mola Corp. Loses Bid to Save Huge Project

The Mola Corp. lost its bid Wednesday to have an Orange County Superior Court Commissioner rescue a $200-million residential project it wants to build on one of Seal Beach’s last stretches of vacant land.

The city had approved the 329-unit Hellman Ranch project last fall. But Commissioner Ronald L. Bauer invalidated that action because the city did not have a housing plan that complied with state law.

On Wednesday, Bauer denied Mola’s motion to allow the project to go forward, and he set a hearing for Aug. 8 on whether the city’s new housing plan now meets state requirements. Mola attorneys said they will file an appeal and will not abandon a project that has already cost the company $11 million.

Mola attorneys said company officials did not know last year that Seal Beach had failed to update its housing plan in accordance with state law and should not have to pay for the city’s mistake.

“The city violates the law and the developer gets shot down. Something ain’t right,” attorney Philip Glusker said.

Seal Beach’s new City Council, seated May 15, rejected the project on a 3-2 vote last month.

The Wetlands Restoration Society, which sued the city in December to block the project, nevertheless continued its lawsuit.

One of the council’s new members, Gwen Forsythe, who originally supported the project but cast a crucial vote to defeat it, on Wednesday delivered a three-page document to the city attorney recounting what she alleges are threats against her by Mola.

City officials would not divulge details of those allegations but confirmed the allegation that Mola Project Director Kirk Evans had requested and received a copy of permits issued to Forsythe for a 400-square-foot addition to her home.

Tim Roberts, director of operations and finance for Mola, said the request was only one of eight or nine others made as part of a company study of the city’s policies toward building on potential earthquake sites.

City Development Director Lee Whittenberg, however, said Evans had only requested building permits for Forsythe’s home.

But Roberts said Forsythe’s allegations were “ridiculous. That is not how we do business. I am shocked at the level of nonsense coming from Gwen and her allegations.”