Developer Illegally Plugged Batiquitos Lagoon

A developer of a Carlsbad resort overlooking the Batiquitos Lagoon earlier this month illegally blocked the water outflow from the lagoon only days after sewer officials had unplugged it, but officials are unsure whether the offending developer will be punished.

The California Coastal Commission, the organization that oversees the lagoon, said that, since recent rains have already washed away a berm placed at the mouth of the lagoon by Hillman Properties, it’s unclear whether any fines will be imposed.

“Hillman Properties went onto public property and then proceeded to place riprap at the mouth of the lagoon without having obtained a permit from us,” said Paul Webb, a planner for the state Coastal Commission.

The Leucadia County Water District pulled the plug on the lagoon March 1 when the rising tide threatened to flood the nearby sewage pump station and contaminate the area, said Joan Geiselhart, general manager of the water district.

The water district has, under emergency conditions, the authority to remove the berm that keeps water in the lagoon and to apply for a permit from the Coastal Commission after the fact, Webb said.

Three days after the lagoon was unplugged, Hillman Properties, without authority from any public agency, pushed the berm back in front of the lagoon’s mouth after deciding that enough water had leaked out and that any further lowering of the lagoon would hurt the view, according to Larry Clemens, vice president and general manager of Hillman Properties.

“We just made the decision that, if no one else will plug it back up, we will, because it just does not make sense to let that lagoon drain,” Clemens said.

Hillman’s Aviara project, consisting of a resort hotel and more than 2,000 homes, overlooks the lagoon. Clemens said the lagoon’s visual appeal is “important to the property.”

Clemens said it would have taken as long as six months to go through the permit application process, by which time the lagoon would have been dry.

Officials from Carlsbad, who own the land on which the berm was built, expressed outrage Thursday but said any punishment would be up to the Coastal Commission.

“No one has a right to do what they did. What they did was absolutely wrong. They have to have permission to do those types of things,” Mayor Bud Lewis said. “The Coastal Commission has very strong regulations on that. Everyone has to obey the rules.”

Clemens said his company had consulted city and sewer officials before plugging up the lagoon, and that it contacted the Coastal Commission soon afterward.

Webb, however, said he did not hear about the blocking of the lagoon until more than a week later, when a citizen mentioned it at a public hearing.

Webb said Hillman had no authority to put the berm back in place or to unilaterally decide what level of water was best for all.

“If there is a bona fide emergency, a threat to public lives or property, we could issue an emergency permit on the spot,” Webb said. “We don’t consider some potential visual diminution of a visual resource to be an emergency.”

The water level of the lagoon has been the topic of heated debate between developers who favor high water levels and biologists who want to protect the habitat of the endangered California least tern and who favor a regular flushing of the lagoon through openings to the ocean.

“There’s going to be a very, very difficult balancing act performed with those competing needs, many of which will require water above a certain level and below a certain level,” Webb said.

Neither state Fish and Game nor federal Fish and Wildlife officials could be reached to comment on whether any damage had been done to the least tern habitats because of Hillman’s actions.

Webb said a violation complaint regarding the plugging of the lagoon has been filed and is being investigated by the Coastal Commission. A violation of a Coastal Commission regulation carries fines from $50 to $5,000 per day of violation.

But, because the berm placed by Hillman was washed away March 22, the whole issue may be moot.

“I’m not sure that this might not all go away,” Webb said.

There are no plans to replug the lagoon, Webb said.

Hillman also said it has no plans to plug it up again.