Builder Offers Expanded Ballona Wetlands Plan : Land use: Environmentalists hail proposal, which calls for a restoration costing about $12.5 million if the Playa Vista project goes forward. The developer had been committed to spending only $10 million.

To the delight of environmentalists, the developer of the vast Playa Vista development near Marina del Rey has given its blessing to an expanded new plan to restore the Ballona Wetlands.

Maguire Thomas Partners has tentatively agreed to pay for the restoration, estimated to cost $12.5 million and considered far more comprehensive than any affordable plan yet contemplated by wetlands advocates.

The offer is significant because, as part of a settlement with Friends of Ballona Wetlands, a preservation group, Maguire Thomas is committed to spend only $10 million to restore the roughly 200 acres of saltwater marsh on its property. The expenditure is in addition to the developer’s plans to restore 51 acres of freshwater marshland on the property.

The Ballona Wetlands--the last major coastal wetland in Los Angeles County--provide habitat to more than 200 species of animals and plants, but require adequate tidal inundation to flourish. They once covered 1,800 acres from Venice south to the bluffs of Playa del Rey.

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“We’ve said all along that we want a great restoration,” said Doug Gardner, project manager for the proposed $7-billion Playa Vista development, a residential, office, retail and hotel project to be built on 1,087 acres once owned by billionaire Howard Hughes.

The plan, devised with the help of consultants representing the wetlands group and scientists from Heal the Bay, the Santa Monica-based environmental group, was hailed by supporters as a key step toward restoring the once-thriving marshland.

“It represents a level of cooperation (involving a developer) that you don’t see very often,” said Los Angeles City Councilwoman Ruth Galanter, whose district includes Playa Vista.

Critics, however, were less enthusiastic.

“Even if it proves to be a great restoration, is it worth the environmental problems that a project the size of Playa Vista will create?” asked Kate M. Neiswender, a lawyer for Save Ballona Wetlands, an ad hoc group opposed to the development.

Advocates have long dreamed of restoring what is left of the Ballona Wetlands, which were altered drastically in the 1930s when construction of the Ballona Creek flood-control channel cut off the flow of ocean tides. About 80% of what was left of the wetlands was destroyed in the mid-1960s to make way for Marina del Rey.

For more than a decade--while first the Summa Corp. and then Maguire Thomas pushed to develop what is reputed to be the largest parcel of developable urban land in the United States--environmentalists have debated how best to save what remains.

Estimates are that it would cost $10 million to restore even limited tidal action to the wetlands. A so-called “full tidal” plan that would allow water to rise and fall freely with ocean tides is estimated to cost $50 million.

The hybrid plan now being advanced would use gates, channels and culverts to restore full tidal flows to part of the wetlands while limiting the tidal range in other areas.

Supporters say it would allow cordgrass and other wetland plants that require full tidal inundation to flourish in some areas while not disrupting mud flat habitats that are essential to some waterfowl and shore birds.

The plan envisions restoring 191 acres of saltwater marsh and eight acres of coastal dunes along with the creation of the 51-acre freshwater marsh and riparian corridor. An additional 90 acres of upland along the bluffs bordering Playa Vista to the south would have plant life restored.

Among the species sheltered by the wetlands are Belding’s savannah sparrow, the California least tern and the California brown pelican.

Environmentalists have long been concerned about the effect of restoration on the endangered savannah sparrow, which makes its home among the pickleweed that grows in mud flats.

As part of the plan, sections of the marsh where the sparrow breeds would receive a so-called “mid-tidal” restoration, with culverts allowing for a two-foot range in tidal action.

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The rest of the saltwater marsh would receive full tidal flows in the range of six feet, said Jacob Lipa, a hydrologist and vice president of Psomas & Associates, the consulting firm hired by Maguire Thomas to spearhead the study.

The plan calls for a major new system of tidal channels to be built within a badly degraded area of the marsh where years of vegetable farming have left little habitat to protect.

Roger Gorke, science and policy analyst with Heal the Bay, called the hybrid plan to restore the wetlands “the best of both worlds.”

Although Heal the Bay has carefully avoided endorsing Playa Vista, Gorke said that “if we assume that the project will be built, then it is clearly our desire to see that the best possible restoration of the wetlands occurs.”

Ruth Lansford, who heads Friends of Ballona Wetlands, praised Maguire Thomas for its efforts, calling the proposal “the best plan available.”

It was the developer’s settlement of a lawsuit brought by the organization that assures that the wetlands will remain off-limits to development.

The restoration is directly linked to the fate of the massive Playa Vista development. The settlement allows Maguire Thomas to back away from the restoration if future stages of the project are not approved.

Although the Los Angeles City Council approved the first stage of development in September, 1993, the developer has yet to attract financing.

Some observers have suggested that potential investors were put off by a lawsuit by Save Ballona Wetlands in October, 1993, that sought to block approval of the first stage of development on grounds that the study of its environmental impact was flawed.

A Santa Monica Superior Court judge ruled in the developer’s favor last August, but in December the group appealed, leaving the matter unresolved.

Maguire Thomas officials have said that construction of the freshwater marsh will begin in April, with the marsh to be planted in 1996 and completed by early 1997.

However, before it can carry out the saltwater restoration, the developer must conduct an exhaustive environmental review and obtain permits from city, county, state and federal agencies, which could easily take two to three years.

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Rebuilding the Wetlands Here is a look at some key elements in the proposed Ballona Wetlands restoration, which could be completed as early as 1997: *

Creating a 51-acre freshwater marsh. *

Restoring 90 acres of bluffs and eight acres of coastal dunes. *

Restoring a 191-acre saltwater marsh, using two methods: *

Mid-tidal restoration. The north wetlands ad a section south of Culver Boulevard will receive tidal water from new culverts in the Ballona Channel and under Culver, allowing a two-foot range in tidal action through the wetlands. Existing channels will be enlarged. *

Full-tidal restoration in the northeast and east wetlands. New culverts will be installed in the Ballona Channel and under Jefferson Boulevard. A new system of channels will be built in this portion of the saltwater marsh.