Even Victors Were Surprised by Bolsa Chica Vote

Just down the hall from a ballroom packed with 400 people, a single Sierra Club lobbyist huddled at a pay phone, his voice tense.

“We’ve got six votes. Six,” he told the caller.

The lobbyist, Mark Massara, needed seven votes from the California Coastal Commission to win what once again has escalated into one of the state’s most rancorous environmental battles.

When the 12-member commission convened early Thursday, environmentalists still were one vote short for a plan to shrink a proposed housing project on the grassy mesa above the Bolsa Chica wetlands near Huntington Beach. They seemed to be losing again, as they had through the 1990s, when commissioners in previous votes backed plans for thousands of homes flanking one of Southern California’s largest remaining coastal wetlands.

But something unscripted happened: The commission voted 12-0 in favor of a plan crafted by its own staff that was fiercely opposed by developer Hearthside Homes. That plan limits the planned 1,235 homes to just 65 acres, a parcel dramatically smaller than the 183-acre site sought by the developer, which now is reviewing its options--legal and otherwise.

Propelling that turnaround, key players say, was a complicated synergy. Some commissioners challenged Hearthside’s contention that a 65-acre project was physically impossible. Others bristled at last-minute lobbying efforts. Word that Gov. Gray Davis’ office was backing the developer--fueled by the 11th-hour appearance of a lobbyist long linked with Davis--faded by late afternoon Thursday as more commissioners threw their support behind the staff plan.

State Resources Secretary Mary Nichols, a Davis appointee, said Friday that when asked, she told commissioners the staff proposal “was a solid piece of work, which it was.”

Earlier this year, Nichols arranged for a report by three independent scientists that some commissioners say helped pave the way for the unanimous vote.

“It was important for the commission to act, to do it based on sound science and fairness,” she said Friday.

Massara, the Sierra Club’s national head of coastal programs, calls the latest Bolsa Chica decision the most important commission vote since the now-legendary 1998 defeat of plans for a resort complex near Hearst Castle on the central coast--and one he could not have predicted in advance.

This might not be the last act in the 30-year drama. Hearthside senior vice president Lucy Dunn told commissioners the 65-acre site is so small that development is impossible. She said Friday her company is reviewing the site’s potential.

“We’re looking at the alternatives to see what we can do,” said Dunn, who earlier had said her company would considering suing the commission if the Hearthside plan were rejected. Asked if a lawsuit is pending, Dunn said simply, “We’re looking at all of our alternatives.”

And the Orange County Board of Supervisors, which has long favored plans by Hearthside and its corporate predecessors, must sign off on the new 65-acre plan within the next six months and report back to the Coastal Commission.

Hearthside attorney Cindy Starrett of the Los Angeles-based law firm Latham & Watkins warned commissioners Thursday that the smaller plan could constitute an improper “taking” of land owned by Hearthside.

“This landowner’s property would be left without any development rights,” she said. “This property owner has really worked hard with the public over the years.”

For a time Thursday, it seemed Hearthside had the votes to prevail. Lobbyists huddled in corners and high-ranking government officials paced hallways murmuring into cell phones. Hundreds of onlookers waved lime-green and fuchsia signs to make their views known: “Agree!” written on one side, “Disagree!” on the other.

The audience included many Hearthside supporters, including Irvine resident Mike Sciuotto, who wore a button reading, “Impeach King Peter,” a reference to Coastal Commission Executive Director Peter Douglas.

Such fervor was not new to commissioners, who have dealt for months with activists for Hearthside, environmental groups and other interests. As required, they announced early in the day their most recent contacts with lobbyists. The list was unusually long and detailed: meetings in Huntington Beach and Santa Rosa, and several reports of breakfast sessions that day.

Some mentioned receiving a special delivery of large documents from Hearthside last weekend.

“My birthday was the previous week,” Commission Vice Chairman Dave Potter said. “My wife called me and said, ‘I think you got a late birthday present.’ I [got] two three-inch binders . . . with new information from Hearthside.”

Lobbyists for many interests were at the Furama Hotel in Los Angeles. Meeting onlookers included Darius Anderson, a high-profile fund-raiser who was Gov. Davis’ 1998 campaign finance chairman. Hearthside’s parent company, California Coastal Communities, paid $270,856 to Anderson’s firm, Platinum Advisors, in the first nine months of 2000.

“He works on a number of issues for the company,” Dunn said, though she would not say if Anderson lobbied on Bolsa Chica.

For the panel, emotion-packed Bolsa Chica meetings have become a tradition. Over three decades, the proposed housing project has shrunk considerably, due to compromises, lawsuits and citizen activism. Plans for homes built on the marsh itself were abandoned in 1997, when the state bought 880 wetland acres for $25 million. A major restoration is planned.

Since then, community support has grown for preserving most or all of the adjoining mesa. Two environmental groups that were once rivals--Amigos de Bolsa Chica and the Bolsa Chica Land Trust--resolved their differences and joined to support the 65-acre plan. Their members arrived at the hotel Thursday in droves.

Some commissioners say they hope Thursday’s vote will end the strife.

“That was probably one of the three most important hearings I’ve sat in during the past four years,” said Mike Reilly, a commissioner from Sonoma County who supported the staff plan. The other two: the Hearst Castle development debate and the decision on how to offset marine damage caused by the San Onofre nuclear power plant.

Open land is increasingly scarce in Southern California, Reilly said.

“There really isn’t a whole lot left. It’s bits and pieces, and trying to save what you can. Hopefully this is a culmination. Hopefully.”

Times staff writer Dan Morain contributed to this report.

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

Scaled Back

A project planned for the Bolsa Chica wetlands area has repeatedly been scaled back. The state Coastal Commission, which originally approved 5,700 homes on about 700 acres, voted Thursday to limit development to 1,235 homes on a 65-acre parcel in an adjoining area.

Source: Hearthside Homes; California Coastal Commission.