Wanted: Balanced Land Use : New coalition aims to help protect habitats on peninsula from encroaching development

Worried that the South Bay coast is losing what remains of its natural habitat, 10 conservation and recreational groups have formed a coalition to preserve open space along the region’s highly prized shoreline.

The alliance, called the Coastal Conservation Coalition, is focusing first on the Palos Verdes Peninsula, where Rancho Palos Verdes officials are considering four major development projects.

“In unity there is strength, we hope,” said Lillian Light of Manhattan Beach, president of the Palos Verdes/South Bay Audubon Society. “We want to do whatever we can to guide development and save open space.”

The coalition includes regional chapters of the Audubon Society, the Sierra Club, the California Native Plant Society and local groups such as Save Our Coastline 2000, Friends of Madrona Marsh and Palos Verdes Peninsula Horsemen’s Assn.

Members say they will work for protection of coastal habitat throughout the South Bay. They hope, for instance, to fence off wetlands in Harbor City’s Harbor Regional Park and improve supervision in Redondo Beach’s Wilderness Park so vandals don’t harm trees.

But their most immediate concern is four developments being considered in Rancho Palos Verdes. Three of the projects, not yet approved, call for the construction of more than 170 units and an 18-hole golf course. A fourth, approved but still subject to city concerns about land grading, calls for 42 units.

Environmentalists worry that the developments will harm native plants and animals. An example is the fast-dwindling coastal sage scrub--and the gnatcatcher, a species of bird that inhabits it.

“The peninsula has some of the plants and animals found on the (Channel) Islands,” said Angelika Brinkmann of San Pedro, president of the South Coast chapter of the California Native Plant Society. “We are afraid if we lose valuable species on the peninsula, they won’t be able to come back anywhere else in our area.”

Members of recreation groups, meanwhile, fear the loss of natural open land and trails for hiking, biking and horseback riding.

“It’s concerning all of us,” said Barbara Epstein, a founder of the Palos Verdes Peninsula Horsemen’s Assn. “We have to think about the people coming after us. I’d like to save something for them that we as outdoor people value very much.”

Coalition members say that by banding together, they can make their case more forcefully to city officials. Said Jess Morton, a spokesman for the coalition: “They will see it’s not just Audubon, and not just the horsemen and not just the bicyclers. It’s a wide range of people.”

Whether Rancho Palos Verdes city officials will feel more inclined to alter or reject development projects remains an open question, however. Several City Council members said the presence of the coalition does not change their view that natural habitat worries must be balanced against other concerns.

Council members Susan Brooks and Steven Kuykendall, for instance, said the city must also be sensitive to private property rights. And Councilwoman Jacki Bacharach said that in some cases, natural open space may have to take a back seat to projects that stabilize landslide-prone soil.

“The trouble with being on the City Council is you have to see things not just in black and white,” Bacharach said. Pointing out that some believe construction of a golf course would shore up unstable soil, she added, “As a council member, I’ve also got to look at the stability of the land.”

All three council members said they welcome the coalition, however, because it includes organizations from elsewhere in the South Bay. Brooks said that in the past, environmental groups active on the peninsula such as Save Our Coast 2000 have been prone to “tunnel vision.”

“It has been a very small segment of people that have repeatedly made presentations against any type of development or measures to abate landslides,” Brooks said. “It has created a credibility gap.”

Gar Goodson of Save Our Coastline 2000 said neither his group nor others in the coalition are suggesting that development ought to be stopped. Rather, he said, the goal is to draft development plans that are kinder to coastal habitat.

Said Goodson, “These people have every right to develop, but they’re simply not allowing enough open space for the natural habitat to exist.”

4 Projects on the Boards

Members of the Coastal Conservation Coalition say their most immediate concern centers on four development projects under consideration in Rancho Palos Verdes:

Developer Plan Location HMDI Inc. 79 homes on 132 Northwest of intersection of acres Palos Verdes Drive West and Hawthorne Boulevard Transamerica 15 homes on 18 Southwest of intersection of Realty Service acres Palos Verdes Drive South and Yacht Harbor Drive Palos Verdes 80 homes and an South of intersection of Land Holdings 18-hole public golf Palos Verdes Drive South and Palos Co. and course on 260 Verdes Drive East Zuckerman acres Family Entities J.M. Peters 42 homes on 163 Northwest of intersection of acres Forrestal Drive and Intrepid Drive

Source: Rancho Palos Verdes Planning Department