California Coastal Commission

A pair of coastal access advocacy groups have filed suit against the California Coastal Commission, hoping to throw out the permit for two housing development signs they say illegally restrict public access to public Bolsa Chica land. The suit, filed in Orange County Superior Court last week, states that Signal Landmark, the parent company of developer Hearthside Homes, was allowed to build two “illegally constructed” signs to mark the entrance of its Brightwater housing development south of Warner Avenue.

Around 30 American Indians and supporters waved signs and called out slogans in front of a Bolsa Chica housing development Wednesday to protest what they called disrespect for their ancestors’ remains. And they promised to come back every week until their complaints were addressed. In addition to demonstrating against developer Hearthside Homes’ handling of 174 sets of human remains at their Brightwater property, they gathered signatures for a letter to the California Coastal Commission.

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.

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.

Plans to rebury the remaining 87 sets of ancient remains found on the Brightwater housing development on the Bolsa Chica Mesa have been put off after Native American groups complained about the handling of burial items, officials said. Anthony Morales, chairman of the Gabrielino-Tongva band of Mission Indians, told the California Coastal Commission last week that developer Hearthside Homes wasn’t properly reporting and classifying the ancient objects and remains found on the site.

Plans to rebury the remaining 87 sets of ancient remains found on the Brightwater housing development on the Bolsa Chica Mesa have been put off after Native American groups complained about the handling of burial items, officials said. Anthony Morales, chairman of the Gabrielino-Tongva band of Mission Indians, told the California Coastal Commission last week that developer Hearthside Homes wasn’t properly reporting and classifying the ancient objects and remains found on the site.

Plans to rebury the remaining 87 sets of ancient remains found on the Brightwater housing development on the Bolsa Chica Mesa have been put off after Native American groups complained about the handling of burial items, officials said. Anthony Morales, chairman of the Gabrielino-Tongva band of Mission Indians, told the California Coastal Commission last week that developer Hearthside Homes wasn’t properly reporting and classifying the ancient objects and remains found on the site.

Governmental regulators have yet to hear back from a mobile home park owner who reportedly eliminated a protected wetlands while building a parking lot for mobile homes, but regulators added that penalties for failure can be significant. The deadline for a response to the California Coastal Commission is April 14, but that doesn’t mean Cabrillo Mobile Home Park owner Mills Land & Water Co. might not rack up possible fines in the meantime. “I have not spoken to them but they still have another week or so to get back to me,” said Andrew Willis, district enforcement analyst for the California Coastal Commission.

Activists and some Native Americans may be angry about the remains reported found on the Bolsa Chica mesa over the past few years, but their options to fight the developer now are slim. All the excavations are done, and even opponents of the digging say they don’t see much legal recourse. Their complaint is about the recent — they say belated — revelation that 174 sets of ancient remains have been found on the Bolsa Chica mesa over the past few years, half since the groundbreaking of a housing development there 18 months ago. The Bolsa Chica Land Trust, the open-space preservation group that helped kick off the controversy last week, doesn’t see too many easy ways forward.

Environmental activists criticized Thursday what they say was foot-dragging on reports about 174 ancient sets of human remains on a section of the Bolsa Chica Mesa. Half of those were reported just recently by archaeologists in November, according to officials from the California Native American Heritage Commission. Bolsa Chica Land Trust Executive Director Flossie Horgan called it a “cover-up,” saying the public deserved to know about those finds when they happened on the land slated to become the Brightwater housing development.