$91-Million Deal for O.C. Wetlands Expected Today

A far-reaching $91-million plan to buy and restore the Bolsa Chica wetlands, assuring public ownership of one of Southern California’s most fought-over coastal properties, was announced Tuesday by state and federal agencies.

However, two oil companies that are parties to the agreement were locked in negotiations late Tuesday, and their final approval was still pending on the complex deal that will transfer 880 acres of Bolsa Chica to the State Lands Commission. The commission is scheduled to approve the agreement at a meeting in Huntington Beach today.

Most of the money being used to acquire the wetlands will be contributed by the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach, which will get credit for preserving wetlands and thus gain permission to proceed with expansion plans.

For decades, the wide expanse of salt marshes and mud flats has captivated and frustrated developers and environmentalists alike. Developers dreamed of building homes there, while conservationists fought to save it as an oasis for rare birds, fish and hikers.

Now, after years of bargaining and excruciating delays, the conservationists appear to have won.

The land transfer remains contingent, however, on the signing of several legal documents still being bandied back and forth late Tuesday.

The oil companies--Shell Oil Co. affiliate CalResources and Phillips Petroleum Co.--”have not yet resolved all of the issues between them,” said Lt. Gov. Gray Davis, chairman of the Lands Commission. “Both parties are bending over backward to make this deal happen, but it hasn’t happened yet.

“I’m optimistic that all parties will come to agreement tomorrow--at week’s end at the very latest,” Davis said Tuesday.

State Resources Secretary Douglas Wheeler said he understood there was not a final agreement “owing to the fact that Phillips has raised at this late hour” an issue unrelated to Bolsa Chica.

Phillips could not be reached for comment, but a CalResources spokeswoman said: “Negotiations are continuing, there remain some issues to be resolved, but we’re working diligently toward a successful resolution.”

And Koll spokeswoman Lucy Dunn said “my understanding is that there should be a final deal tomorrow.”

Officials remained upbeat, saying that problems could well be smoothed out by today.

Indeed, state and federal officials felt confident enough to hold a gala news conference Tuesday morning, explaining their plans to buy the wetlands from Koll for $25 million and use the remainder of the funds from two ports to restore the wetlands and create an inlet between the ocean and the wetlands.

Standing at the footbridge leading into the wetlands, high-level officials applauded the project as a means of purchasing and restoring California’s largest unprotected coastal wetlands south of San Francisco.

They saluted the plan as the product of an unlikely coalition of government and business, Republicans and Democrats, environmentalists and oil companies.

“It’s an incredible cast of unlikely partners,” said Felicia Marcus, regional administrator of the U. S. Environmental Protection Agency. “Getting this group to agree on lunch would be an amazing accomplishment.”

Gov. Pete Wilson, speaking to the group by telephone from Sacramento, called the plan “truly a win-win agreement for the Southland.”

And George T. Frampton Jr., outgoing U. S. Assistant Secretary of the Interior, called Tuesday “a wonderful day for the people and the wildlife of California.”

But even during the speeches, key negotiators were standing on the fringes of the crowd, some conferring or pressing cellular phones to their ears.

A few issues in negotiations remained unresolved that are “technical but not insignificant,” Frampton said. An Interior spokeswoman said later Tuesday that she could not confirm a final deal was in place.

And a continuing split in the environmentalists’ ranks was apparent when a dozen people arrived with brightly colored signs urging the preservation of not only the wetlands, but a nearby mesa also owned by Koll.

Koll has long planned 3,300 homes for the Bolsa Chica area, with the majority clustered on a surrounding mesa, but with 900 on the wetlands themselves--a feature of the development plan that has stirred the most concern among environmentalists.

With the state purchase, the wetlands homes would not be built. But some continue to oppose the mesa development, and the signs hoisted Tuesday bore such slogans as “Now Save the Mesa” and “Mesa + Wetlands = One Ecosystem.”

A key sticking point was the discovery last year of mercury, arsenic and other contaminants in Bolsa Chica’s soils, left over from decades of oil-field operations. Hundreds of oil pumps still dot the wetlands.

So state and federal negotiators have worked to craft guarantees that taxpayers will not be forced to pay for cleanup. Under the plan, Shell Oil Co., affiliate CalResources and Phillips Petroleum Co. would fund oil-related cleanup, while Koll would be responsible for cleanups unrelated to oil production, according to state officials. CalResources is the current oil operator at Bolsa, while Phillips operated there in the past.

* END TO LOSSES? Koll Real Estate Group hopes sale will stem red ink. A14

* NEIGHBORS WARY: Nearby residents mourn possible development of mesa. A14

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Restoring Bolsa Chica

The state purchase of the Bolsa Chica wetlands, due for approval today, would pave the way for one of the largest wetlands restorations in Southern California history.

Plan highlights

* Using $79 million contributed by the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach, the State Lands Commission is set to buy 880 acres of the wetlands from the Koll Real Estate Group.

* Koll will be paid $25 million. The remainder of the money from the ports--plus $10 million in interest and $2 million in grants--will be used to carve an inlet connecting the wetlands to the ocean.

* In return for their contributions, the two ports will receive credit for preserving 534 acres of wetlands, enabling them to proceed with expansion plans.

* The Fish and Game Department will expand its management of an adjoining ecological reserve to create a permanent 1,200-acre wetlands reserve at Bolsa Chica.

* Cal Resources, Shell Oil Co., and Phillips Petroleum will be responsible for cleaning up contamination related to oil production at the site and Koll will be responsible for cleanup unrelated to oil.

Source: U.S. Department of the Interior and State of California documents

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Key Dates in the Saga

* 1970: Signal Landmark, now a subsidiary of Koll Co., purchases 1,100 acres of land, including Bolsa Chica wetlands.

* 1973: Signal Co. and state sign agreement in which state acquires title to a 300-acre parcel in Bolsa Chica lowlands.

* 1978: State builds levee, enclosing 150 acres of the state’s 300-acre parcel. Seawater once again pours into Bolsa Chica, restoring a portion of the damaged wetlands.

* 1979: Amigos de Bolsa Chica, an environmental group, sues the state, alleging that the 1973 agreement is a gift of public trust lands violating state Constitution and that certain actions by Signal and others violated state Coastal Act.

* 1982: County Board of Supervisors approves land-use plan, including 600 acres of salt marsh, a navigable ocean entrance, boat slips and 5,700 residential dwellings.

* 1984: Signal agrees to restore 915 acres of wetlands.

* 1985: Coastal Commission unanimously approves plan preserving 915 acres of wetlands and allowing development of a 1,300-slip marina, open-space recreation, 5,700 residential units, restaurants and hotels.

* 1985: Supervisors approve plan ratified by Coastal Commission.

* 1988: Amigos representatives claim significant victory after Orange County Superior Court commissioner rejects Signal’s bid to dismiss group’s 9-year-old lawsuit and permits Amigos to add new claims.

* 1992: Huntington Beach City Council OKs proposed 106-acre Bolsa Chica Regional Park.

* 1994: Supervisors unanimously approve Koll Co. plan to build as many as 3,300 homes in wetlands.

* 1996: Federal officials agree to move ahead with plan for public purchase of Bolsa Chica, but only if cleanup problems can be resolved.

* 1997: State and federal government agree to buy wetlands from Koll Co.; $25-million price tag includes restoration of wetlands, adding tidal inlet and creating major wildlife preserve.

Source: Times reports