Project’s Foes Plot Wetlands’ Defense : Environment: County and Koll Real Estate Group say the Bolsa Chica housing plan complies with all laws and procedures.

Angered by the Board of Supervisors’ approval of a plan to build 3,300 homes at the Bolsa Chica wetlands, a host of opponents Thursday moved ahead with plans to challenge the proposed development in court.

Huntington Beach City Councilman Ralph Bauer said he would ask the council at its Monday meeting to authorize the filing of a lawsuit challenging the project on the grounds that its environmental impact report did not adequately address the financial, safety, traffic, water or other concerns of Huntington Beach residents.

A spokesman for two school districts within the city said that legal counsel has been retained to prepare a separate lawsuit charging the county with violating the California Environmental Protection Act by not properly mitigating the project’s impact on the Huntington Beach City School District and the Huntington Beach Union High School District.

And Bruce Monroe, a spokesman for the Angeles Chapter of the Sierra Club, said that he and various other environmentalists would huddle Saturday to discuss various legal challenges, ranging from alleged procedural violations of state law to the potential destruction of natural habitat, presumably in violation of the Endangered Species Act.

“It’s the only recourse left open to us,” Monroe said. “They have acted as if they are a higher authority and can do as they choose.”

County officials and representatives of the Koll Real Estate Group, which wants to develop Bolsa Chica, have repeatedly said that the project has followed all proper procedures and violates no laws.

Driving the city and school districts’ efforts is the fear that the proposed development would cost them tens of millions of dollars to provide services for the new residents.

“It can’t be legal that you can saddle a community with millions of dollars in additional responsibilities and not condition the project on mitigating the impacts,” Bauer said.

Because Bolsa Chica is not within city limits, Bauer said, the city will not receive any of the development fees associated with the project. But, because of its close proximity to the city, the councilman said, Huntington Beach will undoubtedly be required to provide such services as fire and police protection, road improvement and water.

“We get zero and none of this has been worked out,” Bauer said. “The county is basically telling the people of Huntington Beach to go jump in the lake.”

Lucy Dunn, senior vice president with Koll, said her firm is eager to negotiate with the project’s opponents. “We have things to bring to the table and we hope” that they will too, she said.

An internal financial analysis developed earlier this year, Bauer said, estimated that the Koll project could cost the city as much as $60.8 million initially and $5 million a year thereafter. Those numbers were based on an earlier construction plan that has since been scaled down from more than 4,000 homes, however, and Bauer said that he has asked city staff for an update by Monday.

The school districts’ numbers, meanwhile, are as current as can be, a spokesman said.

“The deficit will be more than the revenue generated,” said Marshall Krupp, a consultant for the two school districts.

According to Krupp’s analysis, the project would add about 1,195 students, requiring the construction of facilities at a cost of about $33.5 million to the districts. While that would be partially offset by developer fee revenue of about $5.7 million, he said, it would still leave the districts with a substantial financial bite.

Developer fees are set by state law and cannot be increased by the districts, Krupp said.

And even if the districts opted to used portable classrooms or reopen schools closed in recent years due to falling enrollments, he said, the difference would only be slight.

“Unless some agreement is reached between the districts and the county or the Koll company, a lawsuit will be filed,” Krupp said. “Our goal, however, is to try to reach an agreement prior to filing.”

County officials could not be reached for comment Thursday. During Wednesday’s all-day public hearing before the Board of Supervisors, however, they had repeatedly expressed a willingness to negotiate with school district and city officials.

And on Thursday, Dunn said Koll officials also were willing. “The very first phone call I made today was to the city,” she said. “My message was that I would be willing to meet today or at any other time to resolve the city’s concerns and work out service agreements acceptable to the city. My second phone call was to the school districts. I believe we should sit down and work together for the benefit of the children of Huntington Beach.”

While acknowledging public questions about the viability of such a massive project in the midst of the county bond fiasco, Dunn said that the company is looking at a number of options, including obtaining private funding from a bank or lending institution that is secured against the land.

In exchange for permission to build the homes, the company agreed to spend about $48 million in restoring 950 acres of deteriorated wetlands on the 1,600-acre site by, among other things, constructing a tidal inlet reconnecting the marshlands to the ocean.

The project still must be approved by the California Coastal Commission and the Army Corps of Engineers.

In the meantime, Dunn said, she is anxious to work out any difficulties or disagreements that may impede the development’s progress.

“We still have to market those homes,” she said. “We consider schools (and services) to be project amenities. We want to work out acceptable arrangements.”