Bolsa Chica Activists Win $50,000 in Legal Fees

A judge on Wednesday awarded an estimated $50,000 in legal fees to groups fighting the building of thousands of homes near the Bolsa Chica wetlands.

Environmentalists cheered the ruling, but an attorney for landowner Koll Real Estate Group said it may appeal.

The award stems from a lawsuit brought by the Bolsa Chica Land Trust and others opposed to Koll’s controversial plan for a housing development in the Bolsa Chica area near Huntington Beach.

When the lawsuit was filed, Koll was planning 3,300 homes on and near the well-known wetlands. But plans for 900 of those homes were canceled this winter with the state purchase of the land. An additional 2,400 homes still are planned for a bluff just north of the wetlands and east of Pacific Coast Highway.

The suit against Orange County and Koll claimed that county officials failed to review the 3,300-home project before the county Board of Supervisors approved it in late 1994.

In a March 1996 order, Superior Court Judge William F. McDonald concurred with part of that claim, calling for more review of one piece of the Koll development plan, a tidal inlet that would connect the wetlands with the Pacific Ocean.

McDonald followed up this week with a ruling on how legal fees in the case should be paid.

Environmental groups had sought about $75,000 in legal fees and $10,000 in costs. McDonald decided to grant about two-thirds of that amount, but some details still need to be worked out, attorneys for both sides said. Under an agreement with the county, Koll would pay the legal fees.

The lawsuit also was brought by the city of Seal Beach, the Gabrielino Shoshone Nation, Huntington Beach Tomorrow and the Sierra Club.

Leaders of the Bolsa Chica Land Trust called Wednesday’s ruling a shot in the arm for environmentalists fighting the Koll development.

“It gives a boost to community groups like us who are trying to look at how we can continue to live in Southern California and not cement over everything,” said Flossie Horgan of that group, which hopes to buy the bluff where the 2,400 homes are planned.

“We’re really gratified that the judge gave importance to the view of the Land Trust that the environmental laws are important and are on the books for good reason,” said Land Trust President Nancy Donaven.

An attorney for Koll said he was disappointed by the ruling but glad the judge didn’t grant the full amount requested.

“We believe they haven’t earned any attorney fees,” said John Flynn of Nossaman, Guthner, Knox & Elliott.

In environmental litigation, one issue weighed in granting attorney fees is how the suit benefited the public, Flynn said. But in this case, the Bolsa Chica Land Trust lost on several substantive issues, and no project approvals were set aside, he said.

“The result was a lawsuit that really changed nothing and did nothing good for the public,” Flynn said.