Group looks to fight Coastal decision

Local open space and environmental activists are angry at a recent decision by the California Coastal Commission that left them with 12 fewer acres protected than they hoped on the biggest open parcel left bordering the Bolsa Chica Wetlands. Members of the group said they were going to meet Thursday to consider their legal options.

Developer Shea Homes, on the other hand, maintained that a panel of commissioners’ 5-0 vote to finalize a map for where building can take place was just going along with their earlier decisions in November.

As with other recent decisions, members of the Bolsa Chica Land Trust complained the commission had voted against its own staff’s recommendations, which said certain requirements for replacing destroyed wetlands hadn’t been taken into account on the map staffers drew.

“‘Very disappointing’ is the sanitized version of my response,” local activist Mark Bixby said.

“Clearly they’re happy to do Shea’s bidding, and that was what was done. It’s not a particularly environmentally friendly Coastal Commission right now.”

Shea spokesman Laer Pearce said it was commission staff that was out of line.

“Staff tried to exact another 12 acres,” he said. “I don’t think there would have been any flood insurance relief in store for H.B. for years.

“We felt we knew what the commission did, and we got a 5-0 vote on that.”

All in all, the land protected as wetlands or bird habitat comes out to about 25 acres of the 50-acre lot, something Pearce said was enough room for a viable project.

Land Trust members will be meeting Thursday and looking at all the options to fight the commission’s decision, Executive Director Flossie Horgan said. A lawsuit will only result if they feel they have a solid case, she added.

“We have filed lawsuits against the commission four times,” she said. “We do not do it just as a matter of course. We do it if we have good legal reasons.”

As for the finalized map, it will head to the City Council in the near future for its own approval. That development suits Shea Properties just fine, Pearce said.

“You get really good plans out of these processes,” he said. “What we’re going to have out of this is restored wetlands where there are not wetlands. It’s going to be a really great addition to the Bolsa Chica area to have actual functional wetlands there again.”