The Environmentally Better Plan

With the release of the EIR/EIS regarding Bolsa Chica (“Report Details Impact of Planned Bolsa Chica Development,” Sept. 5), we are given the opportunity to participate in the redefinition of community development .

It appears that the developer’s restoration plan for the Bolsa Chica wetlands is directly linked to the construction of over 800 homes on certain of the wetlands. Over 91% of California’s coastal wetlands have been destroyed. Building on wetlands is not OK. It also seems that if the Army Corps of Engineers declines the developer’s request to build on the wetlands, no wetlands’ restoration will take place under the developer’s proposal.

Further, the proposed development of over 3,990 housing units on the Bolsa Chica Mesa and Metropolitan Water District parcel is not acceptable in any event. The Bolsa Chica is one ecosystem, and the mesa construction would forever change this special place.

Bolsa Chica Land Trust was formed to acquire, preserve, restore and manage the Bolsa Chica. The trust’s members believe that the mesa should be retained as open space with some park development, a linear park on Huntington Mesa and wetland restoration. (This is the plan described as Alternative 8 in the EIR, a plan that is described as environmentally superior to the developer’s proposal.) The support for Alternative 8 grows daily, and it hopefully will be adopted. The Bolsa Chica--we need to save it, not pave it.

PAUL HORGAN

Huntington Beach