Council to Seek Funds to Acquire Bolsa Chica

The Huntington Beach City Council voted late Monday to seek funding to purchase the Bolsa Chica mesa, beginning a process that could ultimately preserve a majestic bluff overlooking the largest protected wetland area in Southern California.

The measure passed 4 to 3, despite concerns by several council members that crucial questions were not addressed, including whether the owner, Signal Landmark, is willing to sell the 183-acre property.

Mayor Pam Julien Houchen and Councilwoman Debbie Cook, who went to Washington, D.C., Tuesday to meet with the city’s lobbyist there, were directed to find out if the council has a realistic chance of acquiring the needed funds from state, federal and local sources.

Houchen, who introduced the motion to acquire the property, said she had spoken with the developer, who indicated a willingness to discuss such a purchase and “even has ideas for funding.”

But Lucy Dunn, senior vice president of Hearthside Homes, which manages Signal’s assets, refused to comment.

Bolsa Chica is a key stopover for migrating birds on the Pacific Flyway. Environmentalists and developers have been at odds over it for 30 years.

Speaker after speaker Monday applauded the move to seek funds to acquire the property.

Linda Moon, president of Amigos de Bolsa Chica, said the group “has always supported purchase of the private parcels. Each one of them is important.”

Bob Winchell of Huntington Beach Tomorrow said: “Yes, it will cost the city, but not as much as the problems of residential development.”

No one spoke against the purchase, but some did favor a competing motion by Councilman Ralph Bauer, which set more restrictions.

Council members backing Houchen and environmentalists are largely counting on money from the $2.1-billion Proposition 12 parks bond measure, which voters approved in March 2000.

But the cost of buying out the mesa’s owners may be as much as $200 million, according to Bauer and fellow Councilman Dave Garofalo.

“Wow. That’s huge,” said Roy Stearns, spokesman for the state Department of Parks and Recreation.

Charlie Willard, head of the parks department’s office of grants and local services, said the agency administers about $900 million of Proposition 12 funds. He said it is unlikely that the department would fully finance the purchase.

“It’s a big state, and there are a lot of different jurisdictions competing for the money,” he said.

Flossie Horgan of the Bolsa Chica Land Trust said Proposition 12 is not the only source of funding available, citing the Wildlife Conservation Board and state Coastal Conservancy.

Signal Bolsa Corp., Signal Landmark’s predecessor, bought about 2,000 acres, including the mesa, for $20 million in 1970, and envisioned a marina, hotels and more than 5,000 homes on 1,547 acres. Signal and its affiliates have spent about $90 million in attempts to develop the land.

But the state Coastal Commission ruled in November that the development must be restricted to a 65-acre upper tier.

Houchen had been in favor of developing the mesa in order to fund the purchase and restoration of the nearby wetlands. But since the state has taken title to the wetlands, she now supports preserving the mesa.