Action Delayed on Ormond Beach Pumping : Environment: State officials back off from fining a developer for draining water from a lagoon.

State officials Thursday backed off from threats of imposing large fines on an Ormond Beach landowner for pumping water from an ecologically fragile lagoon after analysts from the California Coastal Commission said they saw the pumps being removed by workers.

But an executive for the Baldwin Co., the Orange County-based development firm that owns the land in Oxnard, said pumping at the lagoon is continuing.

“Pumping is still going on,” said Nick Gorely, a senior vice president in Baldwin’s Ventura office. “It will continue until we get a cease-and-desist order.”

A cease-and-desist order from the commission would require Baldwin to stop pumping immediately or face fines of up to $6,000 per day, analyst Chris Kern said.

The commission on Tuesday ordered Baldwin to stop pumping water from the lagoon because several endangered species nest in the salt marsh. Pumping water from the lagoon without a state permit is a violation of the California Coastal Act, coastal commission analysts said.

When Baldwin ignored the commission’s stop-work order, an official from the commission’s legal department in San Francisco flew down Thursday to inspect the site. Kern said he observed the pumps being removed from the 40-acre lagoon during an afternoon visit.

Based on that observation, Kern said, he decided not to seek a cease-and-desist order.

Commission staffers will visit the site again today, he said. If the pumps are again operating, the commission may issue a cease-and-desist order, Kern said.

“We will continue to consider any action necessary to prevent further unpermitted development at the wetlands,” he said.

Workers began pumping water last week to remove floodwaters that inundated a portion of a 1,600-acre parcel where Baldwin wants to build 5,000 homes.

Company officials ignored the stop-work order, said Baldwin attorney Robert Forward, because his office determined that the Coastal Commission has no jurisdiction over the matter.

Baldwin applied for a permit to drain waters from the lagoon from the Ventura County Flood Control Department on Wednesday, Forward said. But it has not applied for a state permit, he said.

If Baldwin receives a cease-and-desist order today, executives will direct workers to stop pumping water, Forward said. But it be a largely moot action, he said.

“We’ve almost reached our goal of removing the floodwaters,” Forward said. “I don’t expect the pumping to go on much longer in any event.”

The flooding occurred when the J Street and E Street canals that drain gutters and ditches in the cities of Port Hueneme and Oxnard emptied into the lagoon.

Flood control engineers historically have cut an outlet to the sea to empty the lagoon. But they agreed to suspend that practice two years ago while endangered least terns nested and their young matured.

Flood control officials are seeking permission from the Army Corps of Engineers to breach the sandbar that is holding the waters back from the sea, said David Castenon, field chief for the local Army corps office. But it may take several weeks to complete the application process, Castenon said.

“We recognize that the county is very eager to move forward, so we’re trying to move as fast as we can on this,” Castenon said.

It is not the first time that Baldwin officials have tangled with regulatory agencies over the Ormond Beach property. In 1991, the company graded nearly 17 acres of the wetlands habitat, an action that state and federal biologists said was illegal.

The company promised to restore a portion of the wetlands, but has not yet completed the job, Gorely said. Restoration was stopped due to the flooding, he said.