‘Highest and Best’ Use of Bolsa Chica

* One of the hottest and most controversial topics of late in Orange County, especially in Huntington Beach, is the Bolsa Chica area. At this point, I don’t know whether to call it a wetland or a development. I suppose that has to do with what side of the fence you’re on.

We all know of the latest political move by the Koll Co., which pulled the area’s ultimate authority from the Huntington Beach decision makers to the County Board of Supervisors. There is no question that when a decision hinges between saving the environment or excess development, the history of the Board of Supervisors has been how much, how dense and how high--and I don’t mean open space!

So it is no wonder that the majority of the Huntington Beach City Council now has some major concerns. For, as appropriately pointed out many times before, on all four sides of this project site is city of Huntington Beach property.

As a transportation commissioner, my concerns are naturally the increased traffic and related issues that this development would bring to the surrounding areas. I would have assumed that at each step and phase in any development approval process, all transportation-related issues would have been brought to our commission for some type of review by the city. If that was not the process, I would have certainly requested that it be so, because I feel that the full Transportation Commission’s awareness of such matters is a needed and necessary step in the planning process. This would, hopefully, have been one more check in the proper balance between the environment and development.

But now this may all be a moot point, since the county currently seems to have precedence over the final approval process.

Let’s keep a few facts in mind. Land preservation is just as much a right as is development. And the term “highest and best” land use has somehow become a God-given right to some. I have been in the planning industry for more than 22 years, and believe me when I tell you that there is no such land use as “highest and best.” That’s simply a real estate term that tries to tie the most profits to a piece of property.

JOHN SISKER

Huntington Beach