New group forms with goal of saving mesa

Kenneth Ma

HUNTINGTON BEACH -- A new environmental group has sprouted in the

city, and the members have already begun protesting development on the

Bolsa Chica mesa.

Frustrated over the development of 16 homes adjacent to the mesa, the

band of locals are calling themselves Victory on the Coast. Their goal:

to preserve the mesa from future development.

The group joined other groups in a July 21 protest at the corner of

Los Patos Avenue and Bolsa Chica Street, where Hearthside Homes is

building 16 homes. The group’s next protest is set for this weekend at

the same spot.

Victory on the Coast will work with Bolsa Chica Land Trust, the

Sierra Club and other environmental organizations to stop Hearthside’s

proposal to build up to 1,235 homes on the mesa, said founders Vince

Costa and Joe Racano.

Racano said the group will carry out numerous protests near the Bolsa

Chica mesa and hold biweekly meetings to spread the preservation message.

The group’s 60 members include locals -- many of whom live near the

mesa -- and residents from other communities in the region.

Costa, who lives on Los Patos, which overlooks the mesa, said group

members are concerned that runoff from any development on the mesa would

drain directly into the wetlands and ocean and damage wildlife.

The California Coastal Commission is expected to make a decision on

Hearthside’s plans in October. Hearthside Vice President Lucy Dunn was

unavailable for comment.

The Bolsa Chica Land Trust, the Sierra Club and other groups “are

working together, but the machine must be put into high gear, and that is

where my organization comes in,” Racano said. All organizations “have

greater potential than what has been achieved.”

Doug Korthof, a Seal Beach resident, who attended one of the group’s

first meetings, said the new organization will be successful if it is

able to garner more publicity and exposure.

As for the Bolsa Chica Land Trust, member Eileen Murphy said there is

power in numbers.

“We can use all the help we can get,” Murphy said.

She said the land trust already is working with other organizations to

save the mesa.

A Hearthside Homes official said construction of the 16 homes has

already been litigated and decided in court. Last year, Orange County

Superior Court Judge William MacDonald ruled in favor of the company in a

lawsuit filed by the Bolsa Chica Land Trust.