Supervisors Endorse 2 for Coast Panel : Environment: Ventura Councilman Donald A. Villeneuve and board member Maria VanderKolk have been proposed to replace Dorill B. Wright.

The Ventura County Board of Supervisors decided Tuesday to forward to Gov. Pete Wilson the names of two slow-growth candidates for a seat on the California Coastal Commission.

The supervisors unanimously endorsed board colleague Maria VanderKolk and Ventura City Councilman Donald A. Villeneuve, while denying a nomination to commission incumbent Dorill B. Wright. VanderKolk voted on both nominations.

Villeneuve, who was up for reelection Tuesday, had to retain his City Council seat to be eligible for the commission. In the race for three council seats, he trailed three other candidates with most votes counted.

Wright, a veteran Port Hueneme councilman, has held the commission’s south-central coast seat for all but two years since 1976. Wright attended Tuesday’s hearing but said nothing even after Sierra Club members said he has supported destructive beachfront projects.

“I wasn’t invited to speak,” he said after the meeting. “I’m disappointed, of course.”

While several speakers criticized Wright, board Chairwoman Maggie Erickson Kildee said the supervisors’ decision was not “some kind of an indictment” of Wright’s record.

“I think he has served us well,” said Erickson Kildee, who sat on a regional coastal commission with Wright in the early 1970s. “He has a very balanced approach (to development).”

Wright, Villeneuve, VanderKolk and Moorpark Mayor Paul W. Lawrason Jr. all sought the supervisors’ support. The board could have recommended all four.

By law, nominations for Coastal Commission seats come from county supervisors or from a committee representing the cities of a county.

The Mayors Selection Committee, which includes top officials from the county’s 10 cities, has endorsed Wright and Thousand Oaks Mayor Frank Schillo.

As a result, Ventura County has nominated four officials for the commission seat representing Ventura, Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo counties.

Santa Barbara County supervisors have endorsed Villeneuve and Santa Barbara Mayor Sheila Lodge. Supervisor Tom Rogers, who works with Villeneuve on a two-county beach erosion committee, supported the Ventura councilman’s nomination in Santa Barbara.

In San Luis Obispo County, a cities committee has nominated the mayors of Morro Bay, Pismo Beach and Grover City. County supervisors may consider more nominees at a Nov. 19 meeting, a spokeswoman said.

A Wilson spokesman said the governor’s deadline was Oct. 20, but nominations are still being accepted. Spokesman Franz Wisner said Wilson may make a selection this month.

At Tuesday’s brief hearing, all four speakers endorsed VanderKolk, a 26-year-old Republican, and Villeneuve, a 61-year-old Democrat. They opposed the reappointment of Wright, 70, a Republican.

They said Wright has consistently favored new projects over the protection of coastal wetlands and preservation of nesting areas for migrating and endangered birds.

Alan Sanders, a member of the Los Padres chapter of the Sierra Club, said Wright and other coastal commissioners have worked against the California Coastal Act. The law was passed 15 years ago to continue the work of a 1972 voters initiative designed to protect the state’s 1,100-mile coastline against overdevelopment.

Two proposed projects, the 4,100-unit Ormond Beach development south of Port Hueneme and a recreational vehicle park in that city, threaten the Ventura County coastline, Sanders said.

Christo Pulos, who lives near the 140-space, city-sponsored R. V. park, said Wright “has failed in his duties in protecting the coast.”

But Wright said his record has been misinterpreted.

He said his approach has been to preserve valuable wildlife habitat while allowing reasonable development.

Wright, who is retired, said that if VanderKolk or Villeneuve is chosen for the commission, they may be surprised at the time the job takes. The commission meets four consecutive days a month and preparation for meetings takes dozens of hours, he said.

As supervisor, VanderKolk works full time. Villeneuve is a full-time instructor of environmental science and human anatomy at Ventura College.

Both Villeneuve and VanderKolk have taken issue with Wright’s pro-development votes as a coastal commissioner.

Villeneuve, who once served with Wright on a regional coastal commission, said Wright has voted for offshore oil drilling permits opposed by the rest of the commission.

“I don’t think Mr. Wright really bought into the Coast Act,” Villeneuve said.

VanderKolk has criticized Wright for his vote last year to approve a controversial project at Malibu’s Corral Canyon. No other commissioner favored it. But Wright said he did because it was part of a deal that comedian Bob Hope offered that would turn over 5,700 acres of mountain land to park agencies.

In nominating herself, VanderKolk said her district, which stretches from Oxnard to the Los Angeles County line, has “some of the most threatened coastline in California.”

She said a “new perspective on the commission would be very healthy.”