Coastal Panel Approves Wetland Development

In a case closely watched by environmentalists and builders, a divided California Coastal Commission agreed Tuesday to let a developer pave a small, debris-filled wetland to build townhomes and duplexes in Huntington Beach.

Commissioners, voting 7 to 5 after a contentious four-hour public hearing, rejected staff recommendations to preserve the 0.7-acre patch of brackish freshwater wetland near Pacific Coast Highway and Beach Boulevard.

Environmentalists, the commission’s staff and some members of the agency’s governing board had argued that the commission should retroactively apply a recent state appeals court ruling that gives greater protection to sensitive coastal habitats.

But the majority decided it would be unfair to stop a project designed in good faith by a developer nearly two decades earlier. The commission agreed to let Robert Mayer Corp. improve and expand nearby wetlands to mitigate the loss of the coastal parcel.