Marblehead Delay Is Sought

The company proposing to develop the Marblehead property in San Clemente requested Monday that the California Coastal Commission delay until March a hearing on the residential and retail project.

Marblehead Coastal Inc. of Irvine, the project’s managing partner, asked for the 60-day continuance to respond to a critical Coastal Commission staff report that recommends denying the proposal.

The commission is scheduled to hold a public hearing on the project Thursday in Los Angeles. If the 60-day delay is granted, the proposal will be considered at the state agency’s March meeting in San Diego. Such requests are common and typically granted.

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Under the developer’s current plan, the majestic Marblehead site--250 acres once proposed as the site of the Nixon presidential library--would house a 424-home gated community, an outlet mall and retail center.

In a Dec. 28 report, the commission’s staff recommended the state deny the project because the development “would dramatically transform the natural landforms.”

The project would destroy pristine canyons and wipe out rare vegetation, violating several sections of the state’s landmark Coastal Act, the staff report states. According to the report, two canyons would be filled for single-family homes; grading and construction would destroy wetland buffers; and native vegetation, including the rare succulent Blochman’s Dudleya, would be bulldozed.

The report also says the developer failed to submit sufficient information about potential environmental damage.

In a press release, Jim Johnson, president and chief executive officer of Marblehead Coastal, said, “We first received the staff report at the end of business Dec. 28, 2000. With the holidays involved, it left inadequate time for us to properly respond to staff input and also for the commissioners themselves to have sufficient time to review all the detailed material.”