Bolsa Chica Inlet Plan Target of Rally

Environmental groups plan to rally Saturday at Bolsa Chica State Beach to heighten public awareness of a proposal for a tidal inlet to connect the Bolsa Chica wetlands to the ocean.

The inlet is part of a $48-million blueprint by Koll Real Estate Group to restore 950 acres of deteriorating wetlands on the 1,600-acre Bolsa Chica site.

In exchange, the developer would be allowed to build as many as 900 homes on lowland areas.

Koll also plans to build as many as 2,500 houses on the mesa overlooking the wetlands.

Debbie Cook, a Sierra Club member and organizer of the rally, said the inlet would allow flood-channel water to flow directly into the ocean, which would reduce the water quality at Bolsa Chica State Beach.

The proposal also raises concerns, she said, about beach and cliff erosion and would require taking away almost an acre of public beach, “without any compensation.”

For the “Take a Stand in the Sand,” sheets of black plastic will be placed on the sand to show the width of the proposed 250-foot-wide inlet, Cook said.

Lucy Dunn, a Koll senior vice president, said Thursday that a number of state and federal agencies support the plan.

“These groups that are protesting the tidal inlet now are unfortunately uninformed,” she said, adding that the inlet, which would run under Pacific Coast Highway and into the wetlands, is the best way to restore the wetlands.

People who attend the 1 p.m. rally will stand where the inlet is proposed, Cook said, while aerial photographs are taken for a presentation to the California Coastal Commission at a public hearing Thursday on the Bolsa Chica development.

“The Coastal Commission will be able to visualize the enormity of this tidal inlet,” Cook said.

If it rains Saturday, the event will be Sunday. Information: (714) 848-SAVE.