Coast Panel Could Delay Project at Crystal Cove

The California Coastal Commission has decided to review the Irvine Co.’s Crystal Cove project, a move that could delay the planned community or stop it--unless the developer agrees to added conditions protecting the environment.

The move was sparked by concern that the type of permit that the Irvine Co. requested from the Army Corps of Engineers to alter the course of two streams was “almost the equivalent of a waiver,” said Coastal Commission President Sara Wan.

Such a permit doesn’t show whether construction of 800 upscale homes along the coast south of Newport Beach would harm the area’s ecosystems. “The process was short-circuited,” Wan said. “That’s why the commission needs to review it.”

The Irvine Co. argues that the commission lacks authority over the development and misunderstands “the facts, the history and the law.”

“We look forward to working with them to clear the matter up,” Irvine Co. spokesman Paul Kranhold said in a written statement.

The commission was alerted to the problem by a citizen’s complaint, which included a letter from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency opposing the permit. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Agency also sent a letter of opposition to the Army Corps of Engineers.

The corps said last month that once the project gains approval from state water quality officials, it plans to grant the Irvine Co. a permit to fill in or alter up to six miles of the Muddy Canyon and Los Trancos Canyon creeks and their tributaries.

The EPA and Fish and Wildlife are concerned about whether diverting a stream to deal with runoff from the development will harm habitat and species down the hill and at the beach in Crystal Cove State Park.

The coastal commission has jurisdiction over whether permits obtained from federal agencies are consistent with California coastal laws.

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If the commission decides that the Irvine’s Co.’s Crystal Cove development doesn’t meet state guidelines, the project could be stopped in its tracks, said James Raives, a commission official. But usually, he said, the consistency issue is used as a negotiating tool to get developers to agree to take added measures to protect the environment.

Separately, the commission, under its own authority, also can review the project as an appeal after Orange County’s approval and can impose conditions to ease the development’s environmental impact.

But Wan cautioned that initiating the appeal should not be construed as suggesting the Irvine Co. has done anything wrong.

“If what they are doing is correct, they have nothing to worry about,” she said.

The appeal, though, could become mired in procedure. The county approved the project last year, and the period within which the commission must decide whether to initiate an appeal has long since passed. But the commission contends it never received notice of the county’s approval.

The lack of a notice means the appeal is still timely, said Teresa Henry, the commission’s Southern California district director. She said Orange County officials told her they had sent the notice, but cannot prove it.

Kranhold said the letters from the EPA and the Fish and Wildlife agency greatly exaggerate the extent of work planned in Muddy Canyon and Los Trancos Canyon creeks to prevent erosion downhill.

While the federal agencies assert that six miles of stream beds will be disturbed, Kranhold contends that just 420 feet are involved. The agencies counted erosion ruts in their calculations, he said.

In his written statement, Kranhold also said it is too late for the commission to weigh in on the project.

“At this advanced point in the construction of the project . . . we do not believe the coastal commission has the authority or the justification to appeal the agreements upon which the Newport Coast is being developed,” he said.

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Can’t Stop the Rain

Federal and state regulators are worried about the effects irrigation runoff and pollutants from a new development called Crystal Cove will have on nearby creeks and beaches.