SEAL BEACH : Hearing Wednesday on Bixby Development

An overflow crowd is expected Wednesday at the first of three Planning Commission hearings to review the controversial Bixby Ranch Co. development.

The company’s Old Ranch Development Plan, which calls for the construction of 223 homes, a hotel and restaurant near the Old Ranch Golf Course, has already generated significant opposition in a city with a slow-growth reputation.

The last major development proposed for the city was rejected by residents after five years of sometimes angry debate. Mola Development Corp.’s Hellman Ranch, proposed for land across from the Naval Weapons Station, was eventually challenged in court. The developer abandoned the project in 1991 after residents voted against it on an advisory ballot measure.

Critics of the Bixby Ranch project formed an opposition group in January called PROBE, People’s Rebuttal on Bixby’s Expansion. They say that, despite $1 million in traffic improvements offered by the company, the development would create unacceptable levels of congestion on Seal Beach Boulevard and in surrounding neighborhoods.

“When you combine this with the Bolsa Chica development in Huntington Beach, the traffic on Pacific Coast Highway is going to be worse than the traffic on the San Diego Freeway,” said Marty Mahrer, a member of PROBE.

But company officials and development supporters say it would generate about $2 million a year for Seal Beach and the Los Alamitos Unified School District and create jobs. The company has also offered to build a community center for the city as part of the project.

The Planning Commission will hold two additional public hearings on the project, on June 14 and 21.