Orange County Focus is dedicated on Monday to analysis of community news, a look atwhat’s ahead and the voices of local people. : PERSPECTIVE : Fault Lines Reshape Disputes Over Development Projects

At first blush, the debate over the future of some gently rolling, scrub-dotted hills above Brea had a familiar ring: A developer wanted to build homes on the picturesque open space, and residents were fiercely opposing the plan every step of the way.

What makes this dispute different is that opponents are raising the specter of a major earthquake along a fault adjacent to the property.

Some urban planners see the activists’ approach as an emerging trend in the slow-growth debate and a political aftershock of the destructive 1994 Northridge quake.

“From the standpoint of mobilizing the public, it’s a very effective message,” said Mark Baldassare, an urban planning professor at UC Irvine. “It’s an issue that hits close to home.”

Just as many people now store flashlights and bottled water in preparation for the Big One, Baldassare and others said, others were jolted into paying serious attention to the web of faults that crisscrosses the region and questioning how responsible it is to build in potential quake danger zones.

The issue extends beyond Brea. Huntington Beach activists raised seismic concerns in their bid to derail Koll Real Estate Group’s Bolsa Chica development, saying the land beneath the site could liquefy if a massive temblor erupted on the Newport-Inglewood fault.

And in Seal Beach, residents have made much the same argument in their long-running effort to thwart construction of housing at Hellman Ranch.

While earthquake activism has so far produced mixed results, those on both sides of the issue agree that, having been raised, the question will spark increased debate.

“This is something that should concern everyone,” said Connie Boardman, head of an environmental group fighting Koll’s proposal to build 3,300 homes on coastal land bisected by the Newport-Inglewood fault. “We are the ones who are affected by it.”

Seismic danger is one of several objections raised by Boardman’s group, which also contends that the project would increase traffic congestion and cause ecological damage.

Opponents are most concerned about a portion of the development to be built on wetlands. The soft ground is susceptible to sinkage during a major quake and could cause roads to buckle and home foundations to crack, said Bob Winchell, a project foe.

Scientists have long said that the Newport-Inglewood fault could produce a catastrophic earthquake. A 1994 Stanford University study projected that a magnitude 7 quake could cause 2,000 to 5,000 deaths across the region and an economic loss of at least $125 billion.

State seismic regulations identify the Bolsa Chica area, along with other parts of Southern California, as potential earthquake danger zones that demand special attention.

The law requires developers to conduct soil samples of their building sites. If soil is found to be soft, developers are required to create construction mitigation plans, said Chi Tran of Orange County’s Environmental Management Agency.

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Because of the earthquake risk, all projects in the county are required under the state’s Uniform Building Code to comply with the strictest construction standards, Tran said.

Ed Mountford, vice president of Koll Real Estate Group, said his company conducted numerous geotechnical studies of the Bolsa Chica area and plans to install a number of quake mitigations.

Koll would use extra-thick concrete slabs to secure homes, he said, and dig gravel drains designed to reduce the chances of liquefaction in the event of a major temblor.

By employing the latest building standards and technology, Mountford said, the Bolsa Chica development should better sustain a major quake than nearby housing tracts constructed in the 1960s and 1970s, when regulations were less stringent.

“I think people are raising this now because it is a topical issue,” he said. “I think that’s fair. . . . But the reality is that these types of soils exist throughout the Los Angeles and Orange County area.”

In the end, invoking earthquake concerns did not stop the county from approving the Bolsa Chica project last year.

In Brea, public protests over the Olinda Heights project prompted the developer to scale back its plans, but the City Council still intends to consider the proposal soon.

The issue has sparked a great deal of interest, however, in historically slow-growth Seal Beach, where Mayor Marilyn Bruce Hastings and others vowed to give serious consideration to seismic dangers when deciding on a development plan for Hellman Ranch.

Some urban planning experts suggested that earthquake activism might have limited appeal in a region that has been reluctant to face up to the dangers.

“Anyone who lives in California assumes in some ways that they are going to dodge the bullet,” said James Danziger, a UC Irvine political science professor. “People have a carefree notion that it won’t happen to them.”

But Baldassare, who conducts public opinion surveys for The Times Orange County Edition, said the issue could bolster growth opponents’ arguments at a time when public interest in environmental concerns is diminishing.

“Often, land-use decisions seem very dry and abstract to the average person,” he said. “This is something that is of immediate concern.”