Council Opposes Expansion of Base : Project: Members vote against the Navy’s proposal to add to port facilities at the Seal Beach Naval Weapons Station.

The City Council Monday added its voice to the growing opposition to a Navy proposal to build a $200-million expansion of its port facilities at the Seal Beach Naval Weapons Station.

Council members voted 4 to 0, with Mayor Edna Wilson abstaining, to formally oppose the expansion project that would change the configuration of Anaheim Bay.

The council decision came despite a plea by Capt. Stephen T. Holl, commanding officer of the weapons station, that they delay any vote until an environmental study is completed in about a year.

But the council member who represents the coastal area near the weapons station urged them to avoid any delays.

“We don’t want your facility to be expanded in a residential neighborhood,” Councilwoman Marilyn Bruce Hastings said. “We feel it poses a lot of hazards and potential danger to the environment.”

The Navy’s proposal has already come under fire from nearly every quarter in the local community.

Last week an unlikely coalition of environmentalists, peace activists, wealthy homeowners, surfers, local merchants, and realtors formed a new group, Stop the Breakwater, to coordinate their opposition. They plan to begin collecting signatures door-to-door for a petition they will send to the secretary of the Navy, urging him not to seek funding for the project.

A local congressman predicted that unless the Navy substantially alters the project, it will never receive any funding. Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-Long Beach), who represents the area, said he would vote against the project in its current form.

Rohrabacher’s opponent in November’s elections, Democrat Guy Kimbrough, said he has “serious reservations” about the proposal but would like to see the results of environmental studies from both the Navy and independent environmental groups before he makes a final judgment.

Rohrabacher said “the chances are virtually nil that a military construction can go through over the objections of the local congressman.”

Rohrabacher echoed the concerns of local residents over the proposal, which includes a 4,000-foot extension of the east jetty of Anaheim Bay, the waterway between Seal Beach and Huntington Harbor.

Large warships, which now must anchor three miles away and be serviced by small barges, could by 1997 tie up to the new jetty and load or unload ammunition directly onto a new wharf.

Many residents worry that the huge L-shaped structure would all but eliminate the surf on Surfside and Sunset beaches, worsen beach erosion by shifting the sand into new patterns and drive down property values by turning the scenic oceanfront into something resembling a naval shipyard.

Some also worry that since the project would enable the weapons station to service three times as many ships as is currently possible, increased ship traffic could add to pollution offshore and increased handling of weapons could add to the danger of an accident.

Holl said increased ship-handling capacity would not necessarily mean more ships would use the base. Nor would abandoning the project prevent more ships from using the base if demand for its services increased, he said.

“If we didn’t expand the port, we might have to do other things to get people through here faster,” he said. “We might have to work weekends or during the night.”