Council Votes to Zone Wetlands Area for Conservation

After more than a decade of debate, the City Council voted unanimously Monday to zone part of a wetlands area along Pacific Coast Highway between Beach Boulevard and the Santa Ana River for coastal conservation.

The designation, which would apply to 125 acres of a 232-acre tract, would limit development of the area, known as the White Hole because for years it has appeared as a blank spot on the city’s multicolored land-use maps. Final adoption of the zoning is expected April 1.

“After 17 years, we have to act tonight,” Councilwoman Shirley S. Dettloff said before the vote. “This has always been termed a wetlands.”

In 1983, the state Department of Fish and Game determined that the majority of the area is viable and restorable wetlands. Over the years, environmentalists and property owners have been at odds, however, over appropriate use of the land.

Robert London Moore Jr., president of Mills Land and Water Co., was among those objecting to the zoning plan. His company has owned 23 acres of the property for nearly 100 years and has options to buy another 28 acres.

Moore and his mother, Eugenia Moore, told council members that the zoning designation would not provide them with an economic use of their property and would, in effect, “confiscate” private property for public use without just compensation.

Allowable land uses for the area would include ocean-dependent industrial activities such as power generation, aquaculture and habitat restoration.

Under the zoning plan, private property owners would be able to challenge whether the permitted uses would provide them with economic use of their property.