No Gray Areas in a Green Plan

Signs of erosion in our quality of life in Los Angeles are unmistakable. Air quality is worsening after years of progress. Traffic congestion is intensifying. Our shortage of park and open space is second to none among major cities nationwide. More than 95% of Los Angeles County’s coastal wetlands have been lost to urbanization, and most of the region’s rivers have been transformed into concrete-lined flood control channels.

But there is a glimmer of hope when it comes to two of the largest-remaining and most hard-fought natural battlegrounds in Southern California. Using park bond funds approved last year under Proposition 50, there is an extraordinary opportunity to preserve and restore an irreplaceable part of our natural heritage at the Ahmanson Ranch and the Ballona Wetlands.

These two natural gems have much in common. Both are nurseries of natural diversity critical to the health of Santa Monica Bay and our coastal waters. Both are in or near urbanized areas -- the threatened “urban fringe” -- where the high cost of land makes development virtually inevitable. And, as a result, both have been the focus of massive development schemes, unrelenting public controversy and decades of litigation.

Ahmanson Ranch is a 2,800-acre parcel in Ventura County. Developers want to build thousands of structures and two golf courses there, generating millions of additional vehicle trips per year on congested Highway 101 and adjacent roads and destroying about 20 miles of river habitat. Polluted runoff and sewage from the finished development would exacerbate water quality problems in the Malibu Creek watershed, and the project threatens the endangered San Fernando spineflower, as well as the only known red-legged frog population in the region, tidewater gobies and southern steelhead trout.

At the Ballona Wetlands, adjacent to Marina del Rey, there is an opportunity to purchase more than 200 acres of coastal salt marsh and upland habitat and to gain state Resources Agency control over an additional 300 acres, much of it otherwise planned for development by Playa Capital and its partners. The acquisition would dramatically increase the potential for the successful restoration of the wetlands, benefiting marine populations, migratory birds and the endangered Beldings savannah sparrow.

All of this can be accomplished without drawing a penny from California’s General Fund. When the state’s voters overwhelmingly approved Proposition 50 in November, they earmarked $300 million to purchase and restore habitat like Ahmanson and Ballona. Those funds, along with strong public consensus and the prospect of continuing litigation, led the developers to recognize their own self-interest in selling.

Neither parcel will come cheap, although most observers believe the $300 million will be sufficient. The law establishes a process for appraising the fair-market value of such parcels, and the process must be observed to protect taxpayers in these acquisitions and to prevent a precedent that could drive up costs in the future.

But we must act now, while funds, public support and the inclination to sell are all aligned. Future generations will either applaud our vision or rue our paralysis. We urge the Davis administration to complete the purchase of the Ahmanson Ranch and the Ballona Wetlands at a fair price as soon as possible. This is precisely the benefit that Proposition 50 was intended to provide.

Mark Gold is executive director of Heal the Bay; Joel R. Reynolds directs the urban program of the Natural Resources Defense Council.