Early Bolsa Chica Study Urges No Development : Development: Wetlands would be best off with no housing project, report says, but even effects from a 5,700-home subdivision could be mitigated.

A preliminary environmental impact report on a proposal to build nearly 5,000 homes in the Bolsa Chica area concludes that high-density development could be mitigated to reduce harm to the environment, although the report’s main recommendation is not to build a project at all.

The report offers a detailed analysis of 10 development proposals. It concludes that even the most intense alternative--building 5,700 homes--could be mitigated so that there would be an overall beneficial biological impact to the wetlands.

But the report’s conclusion says: “Based on the analysis of the alternatives, the No Project Alternative was judged the environmentally superior alternative, since it would not produce any urban impacts or short-term impacts associated with restoration.”

City officials first refused to release copies of the report, arguing that it was only a non-binding, preliminary document. But Superior Court Commissioner Eleanor M. Palk, ruling on a lawsuit filed by the Orange County Register, on Tuesday ordered its release, and the report was made available Friday.

The Koll Co., which owns a large tract of the wetlands, has submitted plans to build 4,884 homes and to restore 1,000 acres of wetlands, home to several endangered species of birds.

Besides the recommendation to leave the wetlands as is, a second alternative focusing on wetlands restoration and park development on bluffs next to the marsh was also deemed “environmentally superior” by the Chambers Group, an Irvine-based independent consulting firm that prepared the study for the state and federal governments.

The no-project recommendation touched off a debate between Koll Co. executives and environmentalists over what the statement actually means.

Koll Co. Vice President Lucy Dunn and other company and city officials said the preliminary findings are meaningless and their supporting conclusions no surprise, because a no-project recommendation would be the best environmental alternative for any development plan.

Ralph Bauer, coordinator for a consortium of organizations seeking to hold the number of new homes to fewer than 1,000, disagreed.

Koll officials “are whistling in the dark,” he said. “They have been nailed. The statement means what it says.”

Bauer said the report will not only give opponents ammunition to hold down the number of homes, it could also provide the groundwork for a lawsuit.

Environmental groups have battled to prevent development of the wetlands since the mid-1970s. The area--south of Warner Avenue and parallel to the existing Bolsa Chica Ecological Reserve, Pacific Coast Highway and Bolsa Chica State Beach--is in unincorporated county territory but is virtually surrounded by Huntington Beach.

It is home, at various seasons, to five endangered species of birds: the Belding’s savannah sparrow, California least tern, California brown pelican, light-footed clapper rail and peregrine falcon.

Deputy City Atty. Robert C. Sangster said a draft impact report for the development is expected to be made public in June. Residents will then have 90 days to comment and have their responses incorporated into the document, he said.

The preliminary report released Friday contained only raw data and was not a decision-making document, he said.