Permit for Artifacts Dig to Be Debated

The merits of a proposed archeological project above the Bolsa Chica wetlands will be debated at a public hearing today.

Landowner Koll Real Estate Group plans to excavate part of the area to prepare for a 2,400-home project on a mesa adjoining the wetlands near Huntington Beach. The developer has applied for a county permit to search for artifacts that may not have been removed in earlier digging.

The excavation is vehemently opposed by some environmentalists and archeologists, who contend that the land earmarked for digging is part of one of the oldest and most significant prehistoric sites in Orange County.

Some question plans to use backhoes and a small front-loader, saying that could damage ancient artifacts.

“This is like a ‘scorched earth policy,’ ” said Patricia Martz, associate professor of archeology and anthropology at Cal State Los Angeles. She believes the area should be preserved, perhaps capped and used as a parking lot for the housing development.

“We can’t just continue to disregard these sacred sites. We’re just wiping them out in droves,” said Juana Mueller, vice president of the Bolsa Chica Land Trust, which is fighting the controversial housing project.

But Koll Senior Vice President Lucy Dunn calls the planned excavation simply “a final sifting. . . . The [material] that was of major value has already been fully recovered.”

She called the project “just a little bit of insurance” to make sure that earlier archeological work did not overlook valuable artifacts.

The Koll project has long been dogged by questions of how prehistoric remains and artifacts on the mesa should be handled. Earlier digging produced prehistoric human bone believed to be thousands of years old.

The site scheduled for work is not believed to contain any burials, said Susan Hori, an attorney representing Koll.

The hearing will begin at 2 p.m. today at the H.G. Osborne Building, 300 N. Flower St., Room 503, Santa Ana.