Bolsa Land Swap Makes Sense

The idea of swapping excess federal land for the Bolsa Chica mesa is an exciting one that the Bolsa Chica Land Trust has been working on for several years.

I was very pleased to see supervisorial candidate Dave Sullivan has made a specific proposal that land at El Toro be used as part of a swap (June 6). The beauty of a swap is that very little money would be needed compared to buying the land outright.

Lucy Dunn of California Coastal Communities Inc. was mistaken in her claim that her company has development approvals for the mesa.

Approval to put more than 1,200 units on the Bolsa Chica mesa was voided by a San Diego Superior Court. Several combined appeals will be heard by an appellate court on Tuesday. If the court rules in favor of the land trust, the plan for development will be sent back to the Coastal Commission, where many changes, including reduction of density, protection of vernal pools on the mesa and enlargement of buffer zones around sensitive habitat could be required.

Additional problems for proposed mesa development are created by the fact that California Coastal Communities has no water for the project. To date, the Huntington Beach City Council has been reluctant to provide water for a development outside the city.

Also, Dunn’s company will receive no grading permits until they donate land to the County of Orange for the linear park. However, the land they are to donate is contaminated and has active oil wells. The county will not accept the land in this condition. The cleanup of contaminated land is very expensive and poses yet another roadblock for mesa development.

It is clearly in the company’s best interest to become a willing seller and work with the Land Trust and necessary agencies to bring about the acquisition of the Bolsa Chica mesa through a swap for the El Toro land.

CONNIE BOARDMAN

Past president

Bolsa Chica Land Trust

Huntington Beach