Suit Filed to Stop 6-Acre Project by Bolsa Chica

Opponents of development near the Bolsa Chica wetlands have filed a new lawsuit in an effort to overturn approval of a small tract of homes by the city of Huntington Beach.

Environmentalists are disturbed by possible development at the edge of one of Southern California’s most significant wetlands and are worried that it’s part of a larger strategy by the developer to gain approval for more than 1,000 homes next to Bolsa Chica.

“They are piecemealing the project,” attempting to encroach bit by bit on the wetlands, said Marcia Hanscom, executive director of Wetlands Action Network.

The suit was filed Wednesday by the Bolsa Chica Land Trust, which has been locked in legal battles with developer California Coastal Communities, formerly Koll Real Estate Group, for years.

The complaint alleges that developing the six-acre piece of land “may result in destruction of unique and historically significant archeological remains associated with Native American settlements going back over 8,000 years” on the site.

The suit seeks a court order forcing the city to prepare an environmental impact report for the proposed project on land owned by the developer since 1970.

“We think that this site, although it’s small, may be of great archeological importance,” said Paul Horgan, the attorney who filed the suit.

According to Lucy Dunn, executive vice president for Hearthside Homes, a subsidiary of the developer that is proposing the project, the land has been assessed as having no archeological or environmental significance.

“This is not Bolsa Chica,” she said. “Sure, it’s overlooking the Bolsa Chica wetlands, but there is nothing environmentally sensitive about this land.”

But environmentalists argue that regardless of the site’s alleged archeological value, it’s still on the outskirts of a wetlands that is crucial habitat used by thousands of migratory birds, including several endangered species. They worry that encroaching development will damage the wetlands.

“You can’t put developments too close to wetlands,” said Susan Jordan, board member of the League for Coastal Protection. “You have to have a buffer zone because wetland habitat occurs in the lower mesa and the upper levels.”

The Bolsa Chica wetlands have provoked one of the longest-running and most rancorous conservation battles in Orange County history. Environmentalists have fought for decades to preserve the wetlands area, once slated for 5,700 homes.

They rejoiced in 1997 when the state purchased 880 acres of the wetlands for $28 million, to be restored as a wildlife refuge. The sale meant the cancellation of 900 homes directly on the wetlands.

A scaled-back plan for 1,235 homes was sent back to Orange County and to the California Coastal Commission in April by a state appeals court with more limitations on use of wetlands.