Wetlands development to face lawsuit

Eron Ben-Yehuda

HUNTINGTON BEACH -- A lawsuit is expected to be filed Friday to stop a

developer from destroying a small wetland near Pacific Coast Highway and

Beach Boulevard, an attorney said.

Preservation groups have joined together to try to reverse the California

Coastal Commission’s decision last month allowing the Robert Mayer Corp.

to fill 0.7 acres of sensitive habitat to make way for luxury townhomes,

said Paul Horgan, a lawyer who plans to file the suit on behalf of the

Bolsa Chica Land Trust, Coast Keepers and the Sierra Club.

The commission, with the support of the city, agreed April 11 to

sacrifice the poorly functioning wetland on the condition that Mayer

partially restore and partially create a similar sensitive habitat four

times larger at the Donald G. Shipley Nature Center across town.

But the chairman of the Sierra Club’s Los Angeles chapter, Gordon LaBedz,

said all wetlands should be protected.

“It’s a no-brainer,” he said. “We’re going to fight it to the Supreme

Court if we have to.”

The Sierra Club chapter’s board of directors voted unanimously Sunday to

join the suit, he said. The wetland was the site of a protest on Earth

Day in which around 50 environmentalists rallied to stop Mayer Corp. from

proceeding with the development.

The developer is under no obligation to improve the nature center if a

court prevents the land swap, officials from Mayer Corp. have said.

The wetland sits on part of the 23 acres set aside for the construction

of 175 townhomes.