New Organization Aims to Halt Koll Co. Plans to Build on Bolsa Chica Mesa Land

A new organization has been started to try to prevent development in the Bolsa Chica area.

Called the Bolsa Chica Land Trust, the new group has only about 12 members--but high hopes. Its goal is to halt the Koll Co.’s plans for building up to 4,800 homes on mesas surrounding the Bolsa Chica wetlands.

“We’re trying to find an alternative to development of the Bolsa Chica mesa,” said Flossie Horgan, president of the trust. “We’re not saying the development company is bad. We’re just saying maybe something can be done to keep the land as it is.”

Purchase of the mesa land is one option, but Horgan said she “hasn’t a clue” how many millions of dollars that would take. Horgan and other members of the new organization have been encouraged by the success of other land preservationists in recent years, such as those who bought land in Laguna Canyon that was once scheduled for a major development.

Koll Co. officials could not be reached for comment Friday afternoon, when the new land trust publicly announced its plans. But Lucy Dunn, a Koll official, has in the past said the company’s proposed development of the Bolsa Chica mesa will be environmentally sound and in keeping with a compromise hammered out in 1988 to preserve the wetlands area.

An older, larger organization, the Amigos de Bolsa Chica, led the 20-year drive that resulted in the compromise agreement. That agreement allows for some development in the area, and Amigos de Bolsa Chica has been neutral about the Koll Co.’s plans, which also include restoration of some degraded wetlands.

The new organization, the Bolsa Chica Land Trust, is not affiliated with the Amigos de Bolsa Chica.

Horgan, 46, a Huntington Beach resident and part-time teacher at Long Beach City College, said the 11 other members of the new trust are from diverse backgrounds and live in several coastal Orange County cities. “The Bolsa Chica is in unincorporated land and is something that is to be cherished by all the people,” Horgan said.

The new land trust wants to expand the existing wetlands preserve to include the undeveloped mesa areas.

Chris Hegge, a spokesman for the new trust, said, “The goal of this grass-roots group is to acquire, restore, manage and preserve the entire Bolsa Chica wetland and mesas for posterity. It is a task that will take educating the communities about this scarce and valuable area.”

Horgan said she hopes the small, new organization will grow after its formal kickoff at noon on June 14 at the Bolsa Chica State Ecological Reserve at Pacific Coast Highway, opposite Bolsa Chica State Beach.