SEAL BEACH : Council Criticizes Development Report

In its first official response to a plan to build homes next to the Bolsa Chica Ecological Preserve a mile outside Seal Beach, the City Council this week approved a report that criticizes as “inadequate” the development’s draft environmental impact report.

The Seal Beach report calls for a more complete study of how the 4,884-home project will affect traffic, noise and air quality in Seal Beach and nearby Sunset Beach.

The response was sent to planners in Huntington Beach, where the Koll Co. project is proposed for vacant land near the intersection of Pacific Coast Highway and Warner Avenue.

Seal Beach officials contend that Huntington Beach’s assessment of the development’s impacts don’t fully examine how traffic flow would be affected if the housing is built.

The Seal Beach report also faults the project’s environmental impact report for not adequately examining the affects of widening Pacific Coast Highway in Sunset Beach.

“Such an expansion would traverse environmentally sensitive coastal habitat areas, could seriously disrupt or displace businesses and residences in Sunset Beach and Seal Beach and would contribute to significant and cumulative air quality and noise impacts in those communities,” the report stated.

Seal Beach officials went on to urge Huntington Beach planners to augment their environment impact report with information on how to lessen the negative effects of the development before any building begins.

Representatives for the Koll Co. have said that Seal Beach will not be overrun by traffic if the housing is built.