Downsizing Has Big Upside

Orange County has as much ocean frontage as it’s ever going to get. It’s increasingly important that developers make their profit by showcasing dramatic coastal property rather than despoiling it. The final, approved version of the long-contested Marblehead development in San Clemente should satisfy environmentalists while showing that builders can do well while doing good.

It took more than 20 years to go from a proposal for 2,000 homes on 250 acres to the project approved April 9 by the California Coastal Commission: 313 homes and an upscale mall, with more than a third of the land devoted to open space, trails and parks.

The development will better protect wildlife and scenic canyons than the proposed 424-home project that the San Clemente City Council approved a few years ago. The council had its eye on the sales tax revenue a proposed outlet mall would have generated. The city saw the filling of two canyons and destruction of coastal sage scrub as a small price to pay.

Environmentalists and community activists, though, were tireless in their demand that builder Lusk Co. do better. And in a vote that showed the importance of putting public-interest decisions in the hands of agencies that do not stand to benefit financially from them, the Coastal Commission sent Lusk back to the drawing board with a firm directive to “try and be a little less greedy.”

Lusk tried again ... and yet again. The city is expected to gain $2 million a year in tax receipts from the development that won the commission’s unanimous approval along with praise from the Sierra Club, Surfrider Foundation and Orange County CoastKeeper.

As one longtime opponent said, “How can we not support this plan?”

Two decades of community and environmental protest led to dramatic revision of plans for another unique piece of Orange County coastal property.

Proposals for Dana Point Headlands once called for 370 homes and a 400-room hotel. Scheduled to go before the Coastal Commission this summer is a slimmed-down proposal for 125 custom-home lots, a 65-room inn and commercial development that has gained at least partial support from CoastKeeper and the Endangered Habitats League. A handful of endangered pocket mice will get 24 of their own ocean-view acres as part of the deal.

The Coastal Commission ordered significant concessions on water quality and bluff protection during construction of the Montage Resort in South Laguna, which formerly housed a trailer park. The recently opened luxury resort includes a well-designed bluff-top park and public access to an arrestingly lovely stretch of rocky coastline.

Most prime land in private hands is going to see at least some development. At the same time, large-scale construction on environmentally important land no longer sails through without a major fight from the public and environmental protectors. Recent projects along the county’s coast show that though the wrangles often take too long, the results can be positive for developers and environmentalists alike.