SEAL BEACH : City Housing Plan Is Upheld by Court

A Superior Court commissioner has decided that the revised version of the city’s housing plan is valid, disappointing an environmental group that had attacked the plan as vague and unrealistic.

In a four-page decision, Commissioner Ronald L. Bauer wrote that Seal Beach’s plan “may or may not be the best possible housing element, with the best possible plans for the implementation of desired goals.”

But, he continued, “a decision about what is the ‘best’ way for Seal Beach to achieve these goals is uniquely political, to be resolved in the local elective and legislative processes.”

Lee Whittenberg, Seal Beach’s director of development services, said he was happy to learn of Bauer’s ruling. “It was nice, after all the work, to see it was done properly,” he said.

The Wetlands Restoration Society sued Seal Beach over its housing plan earlier this year.

Jonathon Lehrer-Graiwer, the group’s lawyer, argued that the housing plan’s objectives for new low-cost housing and rental assistance are unrealistic and unattainable.

The lawsuit was part of the society’s strategy for blocking a controversial, 329-home project on the Hellman Ranch property.

The most recent version of the housing element was approved by the City Council after Bauer ordered the city to update it.

Bauer had thrown out the council’s previous approval of Mola Development Corp.’s plans for Hellman Ranch because the plan was invalid when the permits were issued.

Mola appealed that decision, but a new council has since rejected the project.

Jeffrey Oderman, an attorney for Mola, said Bauer’s ruling last week will help support the company’s appeal, for which no court date has yet been set.

“Mola spent 4 1/2 years processing its project before the city of Seal Beach, and at the time it got approved, there wasn’t any ruling invalidating the housing element,” Oderman said. “Since that defect has been fixed, this ruling will support that.”

Galen Ambrose, president of the Wetlands Restoration Society, said he does not see Bauer’s ruling as a setback because the original opinion overturning the project’s approval still stands and the new council and housing committee are receptive to the society’s goals.