Posted on 04/15/2005 9:09:03 AM PDT by NormsRevenge
SANTA BARBARA — Plans to build luxury homes on a mesa overlooking the Bolsa Chica wetlands in Huntington Beach won approval Thursday from the California Coastal Commission, ending a 30-year battle that saved the salt marsh from development.
Hearthside Homes will build 349 houses and a park on 105 acres overlooking the 1,100-acre Bolsa Chica Ecological Reserve, which is undergoing a $65-million restoration — the largest such undertaking in Southern California.
The project — which has been reduced in size and scope over the years — represents what is expected to be the final skirmish over the wetlands after the fight to preserve it and its mesas.
In 1980, developers planned to build at least 5,700 homes, several marinas and hundreds of acres of commercial buildings on the site, regarded then by builders as little more than degraded mudflats that were better off being developed.
Meeting here Thursday, the Coastal Commission voted 11 to 1 in favor of the project, adding more than two dozen conditions the developers must follow.
Though the vote was a landmark moment in the preservation battle, some environmentalists were disappointed by the decision to finally allow development in the Bolsa Chica area.
"It's a bitter pill to have the proposed development be approved," said Flossie Horgan, a founding member of the Bolsa Chica Land Trust, which fought to preserve the upland areas of the wetlands.
(Excerpt) Read more at latimes.com ...
They're going to have to take out what's left of the WW2 shore gun emplacement on that mesa while they're at it.
I don't understand why the envirofreaks fought this. I lived in the area for a while - the mesa contains nothing but prairie and some few trees, maybe a couple of snakes. It's connected on one side to the elevated terrain that is already developed north of it, so the wetlands would not be affected at all by construction.
Now that's what I want, a house overlooking a swamp!
noooooo thank you! LOL
Not to mention that you'll pay upwards of $1,000,000 for a house with that view.
I'm confused: an LA Times article about Bolsa Chica/Huntington Beach development coming out of Santa Barbara?
The Coastal Commission is based out of Santa Barabara if I recall correctly. :)
Bummer.
I grew up there. My parents are still in the home I grew up in. We could walk to the beach.
My beef about it....more homes equals more people and it is already crowded! The upside, all the surrounding homes will go up in value, which are already way over priced!
Oh well....
I'm also confused. Is this the same Bolsa Chica that used to be referred to as Tin Can Beach?
That...astounds me.
Too bad. The Bolsa Chica wetlands was the smallest sliver of marsh I have ever seen. I'm not much of an environmentalist, but sometimes Cali developers just need to leave stuff alone.
The big guys win again, preventing small, one-at-a-time housing construction (that adds character and variety to a community) and using tax money from the little people to subsidize large-scale home construction companies.
Creating "natural" drainage, weeding out exotics, and restoring native plants does NOT come cheap. Unfortunately, it is likely to be a one-shot deal, thus the weeds will return, and the plants will die. Nobody will take care of it.
The Tragedy of the Commons strikes again.
We used to live about a mile away from the Bolsa Chica area. In Orange County, an ASTOUNDING number of homes are in "planned communities" with Homeowners Associations (HOAs) just like what you're talking about above. What nightmares!!! You can't paint your house the color you want; you can't put in skylights or make other changes you might want without the HOA's permission, which you probably will not get; you can't fly a flag or decorate your house at Christmas any ol' way you want without the risk of generating HOA complaints; you can't leave your car parked on the street while you work on long-term projects in the garage due to both noise and esthetic guidelines of the HOA -- and for all this, you get to pay a fee every month for the privelege of belonging to the HOA! And guess what -- that fee can go up pretty much anytime. Some of the condos we looked at to buy had HOAs of $300 and more a month!!! Granted, the HOA at the condos took care of landscaping in common areas and often had pools and rec areas, but SO WHAT!!!!
Bottom line: if you want to be independent, creative and industrious (as in restoring old cars in your garage, or converting one of the rooms in your house to an artist's studio with skylights), and if you don't want to be surprised with a sudden $100 or such increase in an already steep monthly fee (the HOA dues), stay the heck out of "planned communities." The effect these "planned communities" are having on the kinds of people who populate an area has got to be profound. Creative, innovative doer-type guys n gals who PRODUCE cool stuff are not going to be part of the scene. Such communities must really taint the character of a town.
This used to be beautiful coast & prime beach breaks but over the past couple decades it's just become oil polluted wetlands such that you can't even walk on the beaches around there without getting tar all over your feet (booties)
Beer Can Beach, yes, north of HB pier / cliffs & south of Sunset.
Thjis certainly isn't the 'final chapter'. How long do you suppose it will be before ELF and their terrorist ilk move in and destroy construction and endanger peoples' lives?
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