California Coastal Commission

A company could have to pay $125,000 for attempting to build on its wetlands property in Huntington Beach and violating the city’s Local Coastal Program and the Coastal Act. Beachfront Village LLC, formerly known as Mills PCH LLC, could have to pay a fine for constructing a fence and berm and filling, grading and draining part of its salt marsh wetlands on its property. The issue will go before the California Coastal Commission at a public hearing Nov. 4. The fine is part of an agreement between the commission and Beachfront to settle the company’s violations.

Every Sunday morning about 8 a.m., Steve Acosta gathers with a half-dozen friends in a back alley in Sunset Beach and assembles a church from scratch. The worship leader for Calvary Chapel of the Harbour enters the compact space of the Sunset Beach Women’s Club and sets to work opening folding chairs, lugging picnic tables and assembling a sound system for guitars and bass. When the main room is packed with chairs, Acosta and his helpers create another row in the hall for those who show up late.

An appeals court has ruled that a lawsuit against the California Coastal Commission filed by the developer and owner of the Bolsa Chica mesa may proceed. Developer Hearthside Homes and landowner Signal Landmark claim in the suit that the commission essentially took the property from them by restricting what could be built to the point where the development is no longer economically feasible. Hearthside Homes planned to build homes on 183 acres of the mesa and was limited to 65 by the California Coastal Commission in November 2000.

Tariq Malik HUNTINGTON BEACH -- After half a year of debate, city officials are moving toward an agreement to save a tiny piece of nature. A small pocket of wetlands near the intersection of Pacific Coast Highway and Beach Boulevard has been the center of a lawsuit filed against the city, developers and the California Coastal Commission on behalf of local environmentalists. Little Shell, as it is called by environmentalists, is seven-tenths of an acre of wetlands set to be filled by developers to accommodate 35 new homes, part of the Robert Mayer Corp.

Eron Ben-Yehuda The California Coastal Commission will not rule on the fate of a small wetland by the Waterfront Hilton until April, a commissioner said. A decision was expected on Tuesday, but a lengthy public debate on another issue forced a postponement, Coastal Commissioner and City Councilwoman Shirley Dettloff said. Developer Robert Mayer Corp., with the city's support, proposes to fill less than one acre of wetland to make way for a residential community at the northwest corner of Pacific Coast Highway and Beach Boulevard.

A pedestrian bridge to the Bolsa Chica wetlands that would let tours and other visitors avoid walking through the daunting car traffic of Warner Avenue is finally headed to the California Coastal Commission for a permit May 7. The bridge should be approved, according to commission staff reports. Bolsa Chica-related groups had pushed for the bridge as a safety measure, but when the state came up with a grant for the project three years ago, costs outstripped available money.

Jose Paul Corona A local chapter of an environmental club has taken up the fight to save the coast. The Sierra Club of Los Angeles and Orange County held a meeting last week at the Huntington Beach Central Library to ask residents and club members to take up the charge. The main messages, said Sierra Club Coastal Coordinator Mark Massara -- the California coast is in serious danger. Developers are trying to grab as much coastal land as they can, and the California Coastal Commission, the state agency in charge of protecting the coastline, operates without much public scrutiny, the group contends.

How long have there been plans to develop that property next to the Bolsa Chica Wetlands? Since the late '80s? We won't bother to rehash the long, sorry history of all those development plans, which started with thousands of homes only to be reduced to the pending 170-home project that the City Council approved in 2002. Suffice it to say that the property owners have waited many years for permission to build on that land. So when the California Coastal Commission put off a vote for about another month you'd figure it wouldn't be such a big deal.

A judge has upheld a California Coastal Commission decision to bar construction on portions of the Bolsa Chica Mesa, which are to serve as a foraging area for wild birds. A San Diego Superior Court Judge announced Friday that he was dismissing segments of a lawsuit filed by Bolsa Chica landowner Signal Landmark that alleged the Coastal Commission had unlawfully taken property from it by allowing it to build on only 65 acres of the more than 200-acre property.

One thousand elementary students lent a hand May 20 to clean up Huntington State Beach for the 12th annual state-wide Kids' Adopt-A-Beach Cleanup. Students from Buena Park, Irvine, Santa Ana and Costa Mesa came together to clean the beach in the effort, coordinated by the California Coastal Commission. In addition to cleaning, the students crafted an aerial art exhibition at the beach, spelling out "restore balance" with themselves on the sand.

What has happened to the "Huntington Beach" in the Huntington Beach Independent? You eliminate a popular column (Natural Perspectives) written by Huntington Beach residents, on matters that concern many Huntington Beach residents, and what do we get instead? On Dec. 6, what we got instead was two columns from people who live in Newport Beach, another column from someone who lives in Costa Mesa, and a column on the Newport Beach boat parade from the Daily Pilot. Huntington Beach is also bordered by Westminster and Seal Beach — will they be represented in the Independent next week?

Displeased with the California Coastal Commission's decision to hold off on voting through its housing project near the Bolsa Chica wetlands, Shea Homes has filed a statement with Orange County Superior Court that claims the commission is not honoring court orders. "Recent events ... suggest the commission's staff may no longer be prepared to honor this court's order or the commission's statutory or regulatory obligations," Shea's court statement said. The commission in October rejected Shea's 50-acre, 111-home project at 17301 Graham St., north of the Wintersburg Channel, leading the developer to file a $55-million lawsuit against the state.

A founding member of the Bolsa Chica Land Trust will be honored posthumously for his dedication to preserving the Bolsa Chica Wetlands. Jan Vandersloot will be honored as an outstanding wetlands community leader by the Environmental Law Institute on Sunday in Washington, D.C. The award is part of the National Wetlands Awards Program that honors six individuals who have contributed to the preservation of the country?s wetlands through education, restoration or activism. ?He was just a huge person in the environmental community in Southern California,?

It was a Good Friday indeed for Calvary Chapel of the Harbour. The Sunset Beach church, believed to be the only one in the history of the unincorporated seaside community, got its final permits April 2 from the city of Huntington Beach to move into a new location on Pacific Coast Highway. With the church awaiting the green light from the California Coastal Commission, Calvary Chapel’s resurrection may still be a ways off. But Pastor Joe Pedick savored the victory nonetheless.

. . . FOR THE RECORD: The March 4 article ?State commission clears Keith Bohr? should have said Bohr was accused of having an interest in three downtown restaurants, but was cleared of conflict of interest by the Fair Political Practices Commission.. . . Allegations that former Huntington Beach Mayor Keith Bohr should have recused himself from voting on the Downtown Specific Plan because of a possible conflict of interest have been found false by the state Fair Political Practices Commission.