City Leaders Debate Buying Bolsa Chica Mesa

In the decades-long battle over whether to develop the Bolsa Chica mesa, the Huntington Beach City Council debated Monday whether to seek state funds to buy the scenic bluff-top property.

The proposal won praise from environmentalists, who have fought for years to preserve Bolsa Chica, a coastal stretch between Huntington Beach and Seal Beach that includes the largest wetlands complex in Southern California.

“We have hundreds of millions of dollars in competitive grants that we can apply for” in state funds to buy the property, said Flossie Horgan of the Bolsa Chica Land Trust, which has long opposed development there.

The debate centered on the city’s ability to secure federal, state and local funds for the 230-acre mesa, and a number of other obstacles that could make the proposal an empty gesture.

Most troublesome to council members opposed to the idea is that the land sought by the city is outside city limits and owned by Signal Landmark.

“Is it legal for a municipality to use taxpayer funds to acquire property outside the limits of the city?” Councilman Dave Garofalo asked earlier in the day.

Mayor Pam Julien Houchen, who at one time favored developing the mesa, said she reversed her position after the state bought the wetlands in 1997. She introduced the motion to seek funding to buy the mesa.

Councilman Ralph H. Bauer introduced a separate motion that would impose several conditions on the deal. Even if the conditions could be met, he said, the landowner’s likely asking price made the proposal more wishful thinking than realistic.

Garofalo, who agreed, said 400 of 1,500 acres have been preserved by the state.

“Rock bottom, the land would be valued at $500,000 an acre,” Garofalo said before the meeting. “That’s a minimum $200-million transaction.” City officials, he said, are already struggling “to find a million dollars a year to fix sewers.”

Lucy Dunn, senior vice president for Hearthside Homes, which manages the assets of landowner Signal Landmark, would not comment on the city’s proposal.

The developer had envisioned a marina, hotels and more than 5,000 homes on about 1,500 acres. That plan was dramatically scaled back after court challenges by environmental activists.

In November, the California Coastal Commission ruled that development must be restricted to a 65-acre upper tier of a 230-acre mesa. The landowner and developer are challenging the commission’s ruling in court.