Coastal Panel OKs Hellman Wetlands Plans

The California Coastal Commission on Wednesday narrowly approved plans for a Seal Beach housing development that includes filling wetlands for a golf course, capping an acrimonious battle over one of the last remnants of coastal wetlands in Southern California.

The 6-5 vote appears to be the first time the commission has allowed coastal wetlands to be filled for a golf course, and some state officials and environmentalists said the decision could have implications for wetlands development elsewhere along the coast.

The decision, which caps years of debate over what to do with the Hellman Ranch property, was immediately criticized by environmentalists, who said the action violates state law meant to protect the California coastline.

“It is illegal to put a golf course there--to say nothing of ill advised,” said Ellen Stern Harris, executive director of the Fund for the Environment and a former coastal commissioner.

But Seal Beach city officials hailed the vote, noting that the development is much smaller than previous proposals and calls for significant wetlands restoration.

“How can you not be happy?” Mayor George Brown said of the project, sandwiched on a scenic site between Seal Beach Boulevard and the San Gabriel River. “It’s a win-win situation.”

As it escalated in recent months, the Hellman Ranch fight amply illustrated the tough choices environmental regulators face in a region that already has lost as much as 90% of its salt marshes and other coastal wetlands to development.

While Hellman’s developers promised to restore or create 39 acres of wetlands as part of their project, critics argued that natural wetlands are too precious a commodity to sacrifice for an 18-hole golf course.

Coastal wetlands are considered crucial to wildlife, especially migratory birds that move up and down the Pacific coast and seek out salt marshes as grassy, food-filled oases in their journeys.

Pivotal to the debate is whether the California Coastal Act even allows the filling of wetlands for a golf course. The commission’s executive director, Peter Douglas, and the commission staff say the act, which governs coastal development, bars such filling. The latest staff report on the project recommends that commissioners approve the gated community with conditions but reject the golf course.

Douglas, in fact, warned this week that allowing a golf course on the Hellman wetlands could set a precedent for other coastal wetlands.

But the commission majority chose to override the advice. It did, however, add a clause that would make it easier for a nonprofit group or government agency to purchase the golf course land and restore it as wetlands at some future date. Critics, however, said the clause was meaningless.

Hellman officials maintain that the commission is empowered to approve the filling and have offered lengthy legal arguments to buttress their case.

Hanging like a shadow over the debate is a May 1997 ruling in which a San Diego Superior Court judge found that the commission erred in allowing homes on the Bolsa Chica wetlands near Huntington Beach and allowing the filling of a nearby pond. The ruling, now on appeal, did not address golf courses, but it has made some commissioners wary of Coastal Act constraints on wetlands destruction.

Environmentalists predicted a similar legal fight over Hellman Ranch.

“For a commission that wants to be known as having an environmental legacy, they’re on the verge of falling apart,” said Mark Massara, director of coastal programs for the Sierra Club.

The Hellman Ranch project calls for 70 luxury homes in a gated community, a golf course open to the public, nine acres of restored wetlands and 30 acres of created wetlands. It also would earmark some oil fields for future wetlands restoration and provide public access trails.

Seal Beach city officials have staunchly supported the project. An earlier plan included 1,000 dwellings. And developer Hellman Properties LLC has advertised the plan as an environmentally sensitive project that would keep the majority of the 196-acre plot free of buildings.

“To deny this project,” former Seal Beach Mayor Gwen Forsythe warned the panel, “will clearly be the most anti-environmental action this commission has ever undertaken.”

Commissioner Shirley S. Dettloff, the mayor of Huntington Beach, acknowledged the strong support from city officials but in the end said she could not support the Hellman proposal.

“We as commissioners have to look at the statewide picture, the national picture,” she said.

Criticism of the project from environmentalists has mounted over the spring and summer. Some critics accuse Hellman of exaggerating the “eco-friendly” facets of the project, such as referring to the golf course as open space.

Pointing out how riddled with politics the project has become, the commission has twice delayed votes at the last moment, in April and then in June.

Project critics erupted when the final vote was set for the commission’s meeting in Eureka, 700 miles away from Seal Beach and, with air fare ranging from $240 to $400 and up, far too pricey for many people to attend.

But the fast-track guidelines for coastal projects required the commission to act by Saturday. The vote does not assure the project will be built. Because wetlands would be destroyed or altered, Hellman must seek approval under the federal Clean Water Act and possibly the Rivers and Harbors Act of 1899, both administered by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. The project also may require a full-fledged federal environmental review.

“There are definitely significant unresolved issues from our standpoint,” Eric Stein, an Army Corps senior project manager, said Wednesday.

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

Ranch Will Rise

The California Coastal Commission on Wednesday approved Hellman Ranch, a Seal Beach housing project that includes filling wetlands for a golf course. Critics say the project violates state laws aimed at protecting coastal wetlands. But city officials said it adequately protects the environment. How the development will look: