Coastal Commission Boosts Bolsa Chica Reserve Plans

The promise of a Bolsa Chica public wetlands reserve gathered momentum Tuesday when the California Coastal Commission approved a series of proposals that could hasten public purchase of the fragile marshland.

The action lays the groundwork for state, federal and ports officials to work in tandem to help buy and restore 880 acres of the wetlands adjacent to Huntington Beach.

That land is now owned by the Koll Real Estate Group, which plans to build 3,300 homes in the wetlands area and on a nearby mesa. If the current public purchase plan is successful, 900 of those homes would not be built and wetlands restoration would proceed--a prospect winning praise from a number of environmentalists and public officials.

“This moves us a big step forward toward what many of us have wanted to see for decades--the restoration of the wetlands,” said the commission’s executive director, Peter Douglas.

The commission, on the first day of a four-day meeting in Los Angeles, also took up two other controversial Orange County-area projects. The panel:

* Reversed an August action, and, over environmentalists’ protests, voted 7 to 4 to support a 120-unit Marine Corps housing project near the fabled surfing beach called Trestles.

* Heard emotional testimony on Southern California Edison’s proposal to dilute requirements intended to offset damage to the marine environment caused the San Onofre nuclear power plant. Commissioners late Tuesday were expected to postpone a vote until their November meeting in San Diego.

The series of Bolsa Chica votes on Tuesday helps pave the way for the state to purchase an 880-acre section of wetlands from Koll.

Coastal Commission officials warned, however, that some key elements of a sale remain unresolved and that its feasibility will not be known until late this year.

Bolsa Chica harbors a number of rare birds and is widely believed to be the largest unprotected coastal wetland south of San Francisco. Planners says its restoration could be an important milestone for Southern California, which has lost an estimated 75% of its coastal wetlands.

Koll officials were jubilant in January when the commission voted 8 to 3 in favor of the 3,300-home plan. Since then, a new plan has emerged that would join several state and federal agencies and the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach to help purchase and restore the wetlands. It was that plan the commissioners approved Tuesday in a series of votes, with 10 commissioners in favor and two more abstaining.

Under the plan, the State Lands Commission would acquire title to at least 880 acres of Koll property with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service overseeing the actual restoration work.

Early plans call for building an ocean inlet to allow sea water to flow into the wetlands’ central area. About 384 acres of Bolsa Chica would be restored to full tidal wetlands and 220 acres to managed title wetlands.

Chief funders of the project would be the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach, which in return would receive mitigation credits for future landfill construction.

To date, planners have identified $73.75 million in funding--a total of $66.75 million in mitigation funds from the two ports, $1 million from the state Coastal Conservancy and an estimated $6 million in interest.

But coastal planners cautioned that a gap of $16 million remains in funding the project, which has an estimated $89.4 million price tag. That includes $25 million to buy the land from Koll, although government officials said an exact sale price has not been set. The project also hinges on an ongoing study of potential contamination from decades of oil field operations at the site. The results of that study, expected later this fall, could determine cleanup costs and whether a sale a feasible.