NATURAL PERSPECTIVES:Let’s annex Bolsa Chica into the city

On Monday, the City Council voted to investigate the pros and cons of annexing all of Bolsa Chica. Annexation of the upper bench, where residential development will occur, is already planned. But that leaves about 1,400 acres that have not yet been incorporated into Huntington Beach. Those acres remain under the jurisdiction of the county of Orange.

Past efforts to annex Bolsa Chica have been to no avail. During periods when the City Council was unfriendly to environmental protection, environmentalists worried that annexation would promote development. During periods when the council was environmentally friendly, the land owner/developer preferred the land to stay with the county, so it remained in the county’s jurisdiction and outside our city limits. Now that development issues are mostly resolved, annexation is no longer the critical issue that it used to be. Whichever jurisdiction has it will not affect how much development occurs or how much open space is protected.

I imagine most people expect Bolsa Chica to be annexed someday. Lou and I think the future is closer than ever — at least we hope so.

Certainly, no other city will ever annex Bolsa Chica. The entire area is part of the official “sphere of influence” of the city of Huntington Beach.

Being in our city’s sphere of influence simply means that local government agencies all expect Huntington Beach to annex the area someday. This makes sense from a geographic point of view because the city surrounds Bolsa Chica on all sides. From an Orange County point of view, Bolsa Chica is an “island” of county jurisdiction within the city.

Why change a situation that has existed for decades? The most compelling reason at the moment has to do with police protection. Crimes do occur at Bolsa Chica. When they do occur, whom should local citizens call — the Huntington Beach Police Department or the County Sheriff?

Well, it depends on exactly where the crime occurred. The city limit snakes through parts of the Bolsa Chica open space. The city police have jurisdiction on one side of the line while the Sheriff’s Department has jurisdiction on the other. Unfortunately, that line is invisible, both to the public and to law enforcement officers. Delays in law enforcement are an inevitable result. City police will respond to calls on Bolsa Chica property, but since they can’t tell for sure if they are in the city or not, our officers can’t safely issue citations. They only issue warnings.

Won’t it cost the city money to police this enormous extra amount of land? Probably not. Huntington Beach Police Chief Kenneth Small recently told the Huntington Beach Environmental Board that the total number of calls his department gets about Bolsa Chica is small and that the Sheriff’s Department gets an even smaller number.

Chief Small said that annexing Bolsa Chica would be a “blip on the radar” for his department. Our police helicopters already include Bolsa Chica in their aerial patrols. But until Bolsa Chica is annexed, they can’t issue citations or arrest people there because they lack jurisdiction. This is a major problem that needs to be corrected and will be corrected when annexation occurs.

Local residents have reason to believe that their homes would be safer with just a single agency providing police service in this area. Environmentalists like Mark and Julie Bixby believe that the natural resources out there would be better protected, too. Off-road vehicles, small fires, trenching for paintball pits and deliberate toppling of trees are among the environmental crimes out there. Clear lines of police authority could help prevent that damage.

There is even reason to believe that Huntington Beach could come out ahead financially on the deal. The city has a tax on oil production that would apply to the wells in the lowlands. It’s not a big tax, just a few cents per barrel, but every little bit would benefit a strapped city budget. Because oil production within Huntington Beach has declined over the last couple of decades, revenues from this tax have declined as well. Annexation would give these revenues a small boost.

Councilwoman Cathy Green has concerns about increased liability on the part of the city. We believe that her concerns are for financial reasons related to dredging or cleanup costs. We would like to point out that annexation into the city does not change property ownership. The land (or most of it anyway) would still be owned by the state. The Ecological Reserve would still be operated by the California Department of Fish and Game, and the beach by the California Department of Parks and Recreation. Responsibility for management costs or cleanup expenses would continue to lie with the state.

Annexing Bolsa Chica would be a positive thing for the wetlands as well as for the city. And it would help protect local residents from the crimes that continue to be committed on Bolsa Chica property.