Marsh Wars : Tensions Ebb and Flow With Delay in Bolsa Chica Battle

Tourists speeding along Pacific Coast Highway next to the wide, flat expanse of marshland and oil pumps would never guess they were passing a historic ecological battlefield.

But those seeking the Bolsa Chica wetlands can park their cars and follow a wooden bridge into an oasis of salt marshes. There, they linger and witness the brown pelicans swooping in from the sea, the terns diving for food, the stately snowy egret poised statue-like at the water’s edge.

This peculiar kingdom of tidal pools and oil wells has spawned one of the state’s most virulent environmental wars--one that puts into sharp focus the tensions between wetlands protection and developers’ rights.

And tensions flared again Friday when Orange County officials unexpectedly asked a state panel to delay until January its review of a much-debated development plan for the wetlands area.

It was the second time in a month that a Bolsa Chica plan was pulled at the last minute from the state Coastal Commission’s agenda. And like so many other twists and turns in the wetlands’ history, the delay spawned disagreement among the factions pursuing vastly different notions of the best use for these 1,600 acres next to Huntington Beach.

Next Thursday, the commission was to decide whether to permit the Koll Real Estate Group to build 900 homes on 185 acres of the Bolsa Chica wetlands in exchange for restoring the remainder of the wetlands ecosystem. In all, Koll hopes to construct 3,300 homes, most of them on a mesa just north of the wetlands area.

The proposal has drawn angry opposition from some environmentalists, who cast the impending decision as “the vote of the year” for the commission, a litmus test of its stand on coastal development. The environmentalists cheered last week’s release of a report from commission planners recommending against building the 900 homes on the wetlands.

But on Friday, Koll officials announced that the county, which approved its plan late last year, had requested the two-month delay. Koll applauded the move and said it allows time to address “a variety of erroneous statements and unfeasible recommendations” made by Coastal Commission planners in their 260-page report.

County Planning Director Thomas B. Mathews concurred.

“We at the county of Orange find ourselves dismayed at both the lack of reality manifested by the staff report and the arrogance of staff to undermine years of county planning through the use of a barrage of ‘suggested modifications’ that virtually dismantle a carefully crafted land-use plan that provides significant local and regional benefits,” Mathews wrote in a letter to the commission seeking the delay.

Some environmentalists suggested that Koll sought the delay because it feared losing before the commission--a supposition that Koll officials deny.

“That’s absurd,” said Lucy Dunn, Koll senior vice president. “We’re very confident that we have a commission that will review this favorably.”

Left uncertain Friday was the future of a federal plan to buy 930 acres of Bolsa Chica wetlands for restoration. Spokesmen for both Koll and the U.S. Department of the Interior reported that talks are continuing, and the federal plan remained on the commission’s agenda as of Friday afternoon.

“We still have plans to have the item on the agenda, and we will continue to negotiate intensely over the next four days,” Interior spokeswoman Stephanie Hanna said Friday evening.

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The morning mists still lingered over Bolsa Chica last Saturday as cars streamed into the tiny parking lot at the state-run ecological preserve at the wetlands’ ocean-side edge.

Bird watchers came with binoculars, photographers with tripods and long lenses, college biology students with note pads and pens in hand.

A day earlier, the release of the commission staff report had sparked fresh arguments over the wetlands’ future.

But on this morning, most visitors were more focused on birds than politics.

Some people flocked to the tours organized by Amigos de Bolsa Chica, an environmental group that has fought for wetlands preservation. At stops along the path, volunteer guides described the six endangered and threatened birds found in these marshes, the history of the preservation effort, the importance of wetlands ecology.

One guide described Bolsa Chica as a stopping point for migrating birds, serving much the same purpose that Barstow’s hotels and restaurants do for vacationers traveling to Las Vegas.

“You take away these wetlands, you take away their Barstows,” he said.

Southern California once boasted 53,000 acres of coastal wetlands. But these expanses, rich in wildlife, shrank as the region’s population skyrocketed and developers sought to build marinas, condos and hotels close to the Pacific. Today, only about 13,000 acres of those coastal wetlands remain, a 75% loss.

“Every square foot that’s left is very precious,” said Zach Hymanson, a Coastal Commission biologist.

Bolsa Chica--which, fittingly, means “little pocket”--is now believed to be the largest wetlands ecosystem in Southern California still in private hands.

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In many ways, Bolsa Chica is an exercise in perceptions: What constitutes an aging oil field to some is a treasure trove of rare birds to others.

And while some hail the Koll plan as a sensible and balanced 1990s-style environmental compromise--one which couples the developers’ financial needs with wetlands restoration--its critics dismiss it as a sell-out scheme that would destroy part of Bolsa Chica in order to save it.

Koll officials say that protecting Bolsa Chica is exactly what they plan to do in a $48-million restoration project. They firmly dispute last week’s commission staff report that urges striking the 900 homes on the wetlands from the project.

If those 900 homes are not built, Koll says, the legal and financial incentives for wetlands restoration unravel, leaving the bulk of the wetlands unrestored and dotted with oil pumps.

Most of the 1,600-acre Bolsa Chica area remains an operating oil field with 280 oil wells, Dunn said.

“There are pockets that are good wetlands,” Dunn said. “But overall, it continues to be severely degraded.”

Some who study wildlife, however, say this land has great natural richness.

“It is not a dying thing. It’s been abused, but parts of it have absolutely spectacular value to migratory birds,” said Jack Fancher, a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service biologist and assistant field supervisor.

The wild card in the Bolsa Chica debate is the federal restoration proposal.

Under that plan, the Interior Department would buy the wetlands from Koll and restore them as a national wildlife refuge with $62 million in mitigation funds from the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach. If that plan were realized, Koll could develop on the mesa, but the 900 homes below would not be built.

The federal proposal stalled abruptly last month amid a dispute over how much the U.S. government would pay Koll for the land. The government offered Koll $17.5 million, but Koll officials rejected the offer, calling it lower than an earlier agreed-upon price that remains undisclosed.

Both sides said Friday that talks continue.

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The news spread swiftly Friday of another unexpected delay for Bolsa Chica.

In Huntington Beach, some city officials were working on their day off to prepare the city’s presentation for the Coastal Commission. The city is lobbying for some significant changes to Koll’s development plan, including requiring an open-space buffer on the mesa.

They were taken by surprise when they were told that the Koll plan was postponed.

“We’re disappointed of course that we won’t be making our case this week. We’re ready, we’re prepared, but we’ll give the same presentation in January,” said Mayor Victor Leipzig.

But other council members said that after more than 20 years of controversy over Bolsa Chica, the time has come to seal its future.

“I’m disappointed that they don’t have more confidence in the Coastal Commission to analyze all the positions to make the right decision,” said Councilman Dave Garofalo, who supports Koll’s housing proposal.

Connie Boardman, president of Bolsa Chica Land Trust, which opposes the Koll plan, said her group was planning to charter a bus to transport about 50 members to Thursday’s meeting.

“We had gotten geared up,” Boardman said. “It’s kind of a let down now.”

In San Francisco, Coastal Commission Chairman Carl L. Williams said he was disappointed at the county’s request to delay a decision.

“I am surprised because the county has been quite eager and insistent that this matter be heard in November,” Williams said in a telephone interview.

Williams, who said that he has taken no position on the project, said he understands why the county would need more time to react to the staff report because of the complexity of the project.

But he added: “I just don’t know what new matters would be brought up at this late date.”

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Choices for Bolsa Chica

The Koll Real Estate Group hopes to build 3,300 homes on and around the Bolsa Chica wetlands. A proposal was slated to go before the California Coastal Commission next week, but Orange County officials on Friday requested a delay. In a separate effort, the federal government hopes to buy nearly 1,000 acres of the wetlands for restoration. Here’s a look at how the two plans compare:

1. Lowlands: Koll would develop 900 single-family homes on 185 acres. This would require filling about 58 acres of wetlands. For this, Koll would fund $48 million for restoration of surrounding 1,100 acres of wetlands. The federal plan calls for purchasing and restoring land as wetlands with mitigation funds from the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach.

2. Flood control: Koll would redirect existing Wintersburg Garden Grove Flood Control Channel into newly restored tidal wetlands. Federal plan would retain current discharge route into Outer Bolsa Bay.

3. Ocean inlet: Both plans would cut an inlet to the ocean. Much of Bolsa Chica’s saltwater now comes from Anaheim Bay.

4. Bolsa Chica Mesa: A maximum of 2,500 single-family and condominium units will be built on 215 acres.

Migration Pit Stop

The Bolsa Chica wetlands provides a place for birds to feed and rest as they migrate each fall and winter along what is known as the Pacific Flyway.

Sources: Times reports, State of California Department of Fish and Game