NEWPORT BEACH : Hoag Offer Includes Widening of Marsh

Hoag Hospital is offering to expand a freshwater marsh at the mouth of Big Canyon in exchange for permission to build on three acres of wetlands off West Coast Highway.

The City Council on Monday will review the hospital’s proposal to widen the open water area at the mouth of Big Canyon on city-owned land.

Hoag officials had promised to find another wetlands area in West Newport for preservation since the hospital plans to nearly triple in size over the next 25 years and build over a small marsh.

But local environmentalists have opposed plans to fill in “Cattail Cove” because they contend it is a valuable natural resource.

After analyzing seven possible wetlands sites in the city, including Semeniuk Slough and parts of the West Newport Oil Co. property on the western end of town, Hoag consultants settled on the Big Canyon site. Hospital officials said the mouth of Big Canyon is the only site readily available that would accommodate 1 1/2 acres of cattail wetlands and serve as a functional wildlife habitat, according to a written report by City Atty. Robert Burnham.

Burnham’s report said city staff supports the Hoag proposal since the mouth of Big Canyon is next to the Upper Newport Bay Ecological Reserve and the project area is surrounded by existing cattail marshes and riparian woodlands.

A few years ago, the California Department of Fish and Game cleaned up the freshwater pond there, according to city planning officials.

Hoag plans to clear some of the cattails that have clogged the mouth to create a larger open water area that will provide better freshwater flow, according to Peter Foulke, Hoag senior vice president.

The city would also like to pursue a larger project that would restore 10 to 12 acres of freshwater wetlands in Big Canyon and plant coastal sage scrub on the slopes above the riparian habitat, Burnham’s report stated.

But the key opponent of the hospital’s plan to build over Cattail Cove said he is dissatisfied with the Hoag proposal.

Jan Vandersloot, who wants the hospital to keep Cattail Cove intact, said Friday that Hoag is now reneging on its original promise to restore wetlands in West Newport.

Vandersloot accused Hoag of trying to get a “free ride” by using city-owned property for preservation rather than seeking out other sites that would require the hospital to purchase land from private owners like the West Newport Oil Co.

“There are viable sites in West Newport, except they’d have to buy the land,” Vandersloot said. “I’m not opposed to restoring the mouth of Big Canyon, but they should do it without destroying Cattail Cove.”