Edison to Present Plan for Ormond Beach Property

After months of study, Southern California Edison today will present an ambitious plan to develop more than half of its 650 acres at Ormond Beach in south Oxnard.

Under the proposal to be presented to the Ormond Beach Task Force, the utility would build a so-called “aqua farm” where fish would be grown for sale, a 40-acre recreational-vehicle park and a 210-acre golf course designed to suit the natural terrain.

The project is just the latest to be proposed for the ecologically fragile Ormond Beach area, which is home to a rare coastal habitat that environmentalists have fought to preserve.

In this case, however, several environmental groups are involved in analyzing the project and so far have not come out against it. And the city of Oxnard has already endorsed it in concept as a way to develop the area in an environmentally sensitive way.

The proposed 27-hole golf course, modeled after a Scottish links course, is just inland from a section of beach wetlands that would be preserved with the project.

The course, like those in Scotland and Florida, would have signs warning patrons not to trample on the wetlands and not interfere with the endangered species, promoters promise.

Edison representatives have been discussing their plans with task force environmentalists and the Oxnard City Council since last year. Task force members include the Army Corps of Engineers, the California Coastal Conservancy, the state Department of Fish and Game, several other environmental agencies and surrounding property owners.

Today’s meeting at the Oxnard library could represent an important step toward a final development plan to be presented to the City Council within six to eight months, according to Edison representatives.

“This is another piece of the puzzle,” said Roma Armbrust, chairwoman of Ormond Beach Observers, which includes several environmental groups. “We certainly want to work with Edison. But at this point it is too soon to tell.”

Edison’s plans were spurred in part by the federal government’s decision to deregulate the public utility industry, region manager Mike Montoya said. After deregulation on Jan. 1, 1998, company officials want to use the vacant land surrounding their power plant to make money and compete with potential rivals.

“Deregulation has given us an opportunity to utilize our property to the fullest extent,” Montoya said. “This gives us the possibility to recoup some of the costs of maintaining these properties and add some revenue that will help us be more competitive.”

But environmentalists like Armbrust are waiting to see the exact mapping of the recreational-vehicle park before taking a position. Some environmentalists fear that a resort would bring too many people into the sensitive habitat and endanger threatened species.

“I want [Montoya] to pencil in exactly where their [development] property is,” Armbrust said.

In addition to the development proposal, Edison officials today will discuss a separate plan to spend $3 million to restore damaged wetlands around their power plant at Ormond Beach. The project would be part of an agreement with the California Coastal Commission to make up for environmental damage the company’s San Onofre plant has caused off the coast near San Clemente.

Environmentalists and the city of Oxnard have unanimously endorsed this Edison proposal to restore wetlands that dried out long ago and today are sandy and parched.

But the Coastal Commission said the company did not go far enough in its restoration proposal, because the utility does not guarantee that the wetlands will be in their native state after the $3 million has been spent.

And that has put the restoration plan in jeopardy, said Dan Pearson, Edison’s senior biologist.

“The conditions placed by the Coastal Commission are unacceptable,” Pearson said. “Ormond Beach was going to get us past the dispute we were having [with the state]. . . . We did not want this to become an extension of the dispute. These problems may threaten the [restoration] project at Ormond Beach.”

Edison has been entangled in a long-running debate with the Coastal Commission over the San Onofre plant’s effects on the marine environment.

In an effort to compensate for fish losses caused by the plant’s giant cooling system, Edison officials proposed to meet some restoration requirements by funding the Ormond Beach project.

City officials expressed disappointment over the commission’s position.

Said Deanna Walsh, a city coastal planner: “The remaining portion of Ormond Beach--the south half--would be improved and enhanced by Edison so it would be a benefit to everyone, the wildlife, the company and the city.”

The Coastal Commission is scheduled to vote on the matter in Los Angeles on October 8.