Judge Orders Hearing on Bolsa Chica Planning Process

A judge in San Diego on Tuesday rejected environmentalists’ claims that the California Coastal Commission erred when it approved scaled-down plans to build 1,235 homes on a mesa above the Bolsa Chica wetlands.

However, Superior Court Judge Judith McConnell set a Feb. 20 hearing to determine whether the commission gave opponents of the project an adequate chance to voice their concerns.

Attorneys for both sides say it is too soon to tell how--or if--the ruling will affect the project. Koll Real Estate Group hopes to start construction in spring 1998 above the wetlands next to Huntington Beach.

The ruling did show how the decades-long debate over Bolsa Chica is still spawning legal motions and courtroom hearings only months before development is set to begin.

While the project won the approval of key state and county authorities last fall, the legal machinations go on.

“We’re just hoping that things would have been resolved,” Koll Senior Vice President Lucy Dunn said.

Environmentalists had hoped McConnell would conclude that the Coastal Commission improperly approved the Koll project and order commissioners to hear the entire case again.

However, McConnell denied their motion attacking the way the Coastal Commissioners approved the project. At the same time, she said, “It does appear that the manner in which [the commission] chose to proceed may not have complied with the Coastal Act’s public participation requirement.”

Some environmentalists had complained bitterly that the commission’s approval of the Koll project Oct. 9 failed to allow full public debate.

“I’m pleased that she seems to be concerned about the public participation as much as we are, because it really was appalling,” land trust attorney Debbie Cook said.

The future of the Bolsa Chica wetlands area has sparked nearly 30 years of debate and acrimony, ranking it among Orange County’s longest environmental battles.

The swath of marsh and water called Bolsa Chica is considered the largest unprotected coastal wetlands south of San Francisco, a haven for rare birds and a favorite haunt of bird-watchers, photographers and hikers.

In recent years, the wetlands battle has centered on Koll’s plans to build homes on and near the wetlands--plans that have shrunk from 6,000 homes years ago to 1,235 non-wetlands homes today.

McConnell won applause from environmentalists in June when she ruled that the Coastal Commission acted improperly in January 1996 when it initially approved a 3,300-home Koll project. Specifically, she faulted commissioners for allowing homes to be built in wetlands as well as the filling of Warner Pond.

In response, the panel in October approved a scaled-down project that calls for 1,235 homes on the mesa and none in the wetlands. The state purchased most of the wetlands early this year to restore it as a major preserve.

Environmentalists claimed the commission attorneys interpreted McConnell’s ruling too narrowly and that the entire plan should have been reviewed as a brand-new project.

McConnell denied that claim Tuesday. But her comments about public participation heartened some environmentalists who still want a new hearing.

“We may not have lost anything,” Cook said.

But Koll’s Dunn said: “The court didn’t reach a final conclusion. . . . We’ve got another court hearing to go to.”