Department of Fish and Game Says Area Would Be Harmed by Resort : Port Hueneme: A memorandum cites environmental sensitivity. City officials say the document is ludicrous and indefensible.

Joining the debate over whether a recreational vehicle park should be built on the beach in Port Hueneme, the state Department of Fish and Game has declared Hueneme Beach an environmentally sensitive area that would be harmed by an RV resort.

Opposition to the proposed RV resort came in a memorandum sent to the California Coastal Commission Aug. 12 in response to questions that the commission had posed to the Department of Fish and Game about the project.

The memorandum marks the first time the department has made an in-depth formal analysis of the possible damages that an RV resort could cause to the California least tern and western snowy plover, which inhabit nearby Ormond Beach, said Christopher Price, an analyst with the California Coastal Commission.

“This letter specifies issues which were never specified before. Particularly in designating the site and explaining the site’s environmental sensitivity,” Price said. “This is probably the most detailed and formal correspondence from the Department of Fish and Game.”

The eight-page memorandum states that “This area is considered ESHA (Environmentally Sensitive Habitat Area), primarily because of the entire site value as a buffer for the diverse, rare, sensitive and important biological values of the Ormond Beach ecosystem. . .The entire area could just as well be named the Hueneme ecosystem.”

City officials said Friday that the memorandum is ludicrous because it assumes that most of the undeveloped coastal land in Southern California is home to endangered species.

“This letter does not make sense. It’s indefensible,” said Port Hueneme City Manager Richard Velthoen. “They are suggesting that every undeveloped piece of coastal land in Southern California be declared an ESHA.”

The memorandum states that “given the rarity of the coastal strand with adjacent upland or wetland habitat, most open space left along the coastline of southern California should be considered ESHA.”

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In Ventura County, the memorandum declares Mugu Lagoon, Point Mugu Naval Air Weapon Station, Ormond Beach, private and Oxnard-owned properties inland to McWane Road, Hueneme Beach, Mandalay Beach, McGrath Lake and McGrath Beach to be “only a few of the many possible areas qualified as ESHA.”

The city project calls for the construction of a 146-space RV resort on a 10-acre beachfront site at the end of Ocean View Drive at Hueneme Beach Park.

The 5-year-old project, which was approved by the City Council last May, has been opposed by environmentalists and residents who claim it would harm a nearby wetland habitat and ruin their views of the ocean as well as devalue property.

But city officials have maintained that the RV resort is the most feasible means for the financially strapped city to raise revenues without increasing taxes.

The RV resort is expected to bring the city a net revenue of $400,000 a year. The city plans to use the money to maintain its parks and recreational facilities, said Tom Figg, director of community development.

But before the city begins building the RV resort, the Coastal Commission must approve the project. The commission is scheduled to vote on the proposal on Sept. 13 in Eureka.

Some owners of the 375 condominiums adjacent to the proposed site saw the Fish and Game memo as a victory.

“The department’s recommendation is clear: If the city builds the RV (resort) they will be destroying endangered species,” said Tom Brigham, president of the Surfside III Condominium Homeowners Assn. “The environment has been saved.”

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But Brigham said he fears that the city may decide to move the location of the RV resort a half mile toward the pier where the land is not considered an environmentally sensitive habitat area.

City officials said they have no plans to move the site of the RV resort. “It would be absurd for us to change the location of the RV resort,” Velthoen said. “We just hope the commissioners will approve the project.”

Price, the Coastal Commission analyst who will submit a report to the commissioners in early September, said the information the Department of Fish and Game provided will play an important role in the report.

“I think the memorandum further substantiates claims about the potential impact the RV would have in the sensitive resources which inhabit the area,” Price said. “It certainly will affect our recommendation.”