HUNTINGTON BEACH : New Group Backs Koll Bolsa Chica Plan

Adding another voice to the increasing debate over proposed development of the Bolsa Chica area, a new citizens’ organization has been formed.

The group, called the Bolsa Chica Alliance, supports a Koll Co. plan that calls for housing development coupled with restoration of degraded wetlands. Thus Bolsa Chica Alliance is on the opposite side of the issue from another citizens’ group, the Bolsa Chica Land Trust, which formed last year to halt any development whatsoever.

Bob Gebauer, a Huntington Harbour resident and manager of a steel company in Los Angeles, is a co-founder of the Bolsa Chica Alliance. He said the organization is starting out with eight members but plans to grow and be a major voice in public debates about Bolsa Chica.

“Since no organization has come up with the money to purchase and restore the wetland, it’s time that we give our support to the plan and give Huntington Beach something to be proud of,” Gebauer said.

He noted that the Koll Co. plan stems from the historic 1989 Bolsa Chica Coalition agreement. The coalition, composed of government officials, the landowners and environmentalists, agreed on a plan that would allow up to 5,200 new houses to be built in exchange for donation of most of the degraded wetlands for restoration and public use.

The Koll Co. plan, unveiled last year, calls for building 4,884 houses and donating about 1,000 acres of wetlands for public preservation.

Gebauer said the Bolsa Chica Alliance believes that the Koll plan is sensible. “When the work is completed, that area will be a jewel,” he said. “There will be 1,000 acres given to the public.”

The other co-founder, Pam Julien, said the Koll Co. proposal “will actually result in the protection, preservation and restoration of the Bolsa Chica wetlands. . . . We don’t want to lose it for lack of support or because people are perpetually looking for something better.”

For further information about the Bolsa Chica Alliance, call (714) 960-8384, Gebauer said.