No State OK for Project at Bolsa Chica

A plan to build 379 homes on a mesa above the Bolsa Chica wetlands in Huntington Beach stalled Wednesday when the California Coastal Commission raised concerns about the project’s environmental impact.

Unable to win approval at the commission meeting in San Diego, Hearthside Homes withdrew its application to the agency and vowed to correct potential violations of the state Coastal Act, which regulates development on the coast.

Commissioners were concerned about protecting environmentally sensitive habitat for tar plant, the burrowing owl and eucalyptus trees on the land.

They also said the project’s required buffer zones between homes and the adjacent Bolsa Chica Ecological Reserve must be free of gravel roads, parking spaces, water retention basins and trails.

“There is a project that goes here, but it has to follow the Coastal Act,” said Commissioner Trent Orr, who along with his colleagues considered the project for almost six hours Wednesday. “We should not have to bend the Coastal Act to let this go in because we’re tired of working on it.”

Hearthside wants to build 379 homes and a park on 105 acres on a mesa overlooking the 1,100-acre reserve, which is undergoing a $65-million restoration.

The housing project represents the last fight over the wetlands after almost three decades of controversy to protect the salt marsh and its mesas from development. In 1980, there were plans to build at least 5,700 homes, several marinas and hundreds of acres of commercial buildings.

“I thought we did a good job on the plan, but it was not good enough,” said Ed Mountford, a senior vice president for Hearthside Homes.

“We will work with the commission to come up with a plan that they will approve.”

In the weeks leading up to Wednesday’s meeting, the Coastal Commission staff recommended against approving the project because of potential adverse affects on wildlife habitat, water quality and public access to Bolsa Chica.

Mountford said the company planned to resubmit its revised project for approval by January.

A favorable decision is expected to clear the way for the state to buy 103 acres from Hearthside’s parent company, California Coastal Communities Inc., in an adjacent section of the mesa and preserve it as part of the Bolsa Chica restoration.

California Coastal Communities has agreed to sell the land for $65 million. The purchase will be funded by Proposition 50, a 2002 initiative providing $3.4 billion for environmental projects.

If the commission doesn’t approve the pending project, Raymond J. Pacini, chief executive of California Coastal Communities, has said the company is prepared to pull out of the deal to sell the 103 acres.

Flossie Horgan, a founder of the Bolsa Chica Land Trust, which has fought to preserve the upland areas of the wetlands, said she thought the developer and the Coastal Commission staff should be able to come up with an acceptable project.