Judge Considering Suit Over Hellman Project

A lawsuit challenging the city’s efforts to preserve remnants of a prehistoric Native American civilization buried on the Hellman Ranch property should be resolved within two weeks, a judge said Friday.

At issue is whether state law requires the city to devise a plan to preserve prehistoric bones and relics buried on the ranch before, or after, the Hellman family begins building a golf course and 70 luxury homes.

The city wants to wait until the project meets the approval of the California Coastal Commission, which is set to debate the proposal at a meeting in Santa Barbara next month.

Preservationists contend that extensive planning is required before the project begins.

“If they’re not going to determine what’s there before the project begins, that sort of forecloses any hopes of preservation,” said Patricia Martz, a professor of anthropology at Cal State L.A.

Orange County Superior Court Judge Robert E. Thomas heard arguments from attorneys on both sides Friday before taking the case under submission.

No one disputes there are intriguing clues to prehistoric Native American life scattered on at least 16 sites around the ranch. But since only a few of the sites have been dug up, no one can say for sure what’s there.

In court Friday, Susan Brandt-Hawley, the attorney for the preservationists, argued the city’s delay in investigating the site not only violates a state law but also bars the public from further input when remains are uncovered.

“The whole point of [the law] is to get information and then make an intelligent decision,” Brandt-Hawley said. “There has been some investigation of the archeological resources on the site but nothing recent. Really, when you look at the studies, they’ve done very little. When they did do something, they found something significant.”

Steven Kaufmann, an attorney for the city, told the judge that Seal Beach satisfied state preservation requirements by acknowledging the significance of the sites and drafting plans to supervise the digging from start to finish.

“There are a multitude of opportunities for public input,” Kaufmann said. “This project is under a microscope.”