Builder’s staging area draws residents’ ire

Kenneth Ma

HUNTINGTON BEACH--A Santa Monica development company’s construction

staging area on a small portion of designated parkland adjacent to Bolsa

Chica is drawing fire from some neighborhood residents.

The 150-foot by 150-foot parcel is on county-owned land that is part

of 106 acres also owned in part by the city and Hearthside Homes and

designated as the future site of Harriett M. Wieder Regional Park.

The lot is enclosed by a six-foot-high chain-link fence wrapped by a

black plastic tarp. Inside the lot, grass has been replaced by gravel.

The staging area will house a temporary field office for New Urban West

Inc., which is expected to finish construction of 53 homes on nearby

Seapoint Avenue by January.

Last week, the company received a 12-month permit from the county to

build on the lot. But the company will only need it for seven months,

said Jim Lockington, a company project manager.

Pam Emerson, an enforcement supervisor for the South Coast district of

the California Coastal Commission, said the agency is investigating

whether New Urban West received a special coastal development permit from

the county.

She said residents have the right to appeal the permit 10 days after

it is approved. Emerson said the staging area would not require approval

from the Coastal Commission if the county has approved it and there are

no appeals.

Tim Miller of the Orange County Harbors, Beaches and Parks Department

said New Urban West received a permit from the county to build the

staging area but it was not a coastal development permit.

“What upsets us most is that they scrapped everything off at the

expense of wildlife,” said Al de Lorm, an Archfield Circle resident.

“They always say they want to be good neighbors and [building the lot] to

me is an example of not being a good neighbor.”

De Lorm said the lot has damaged a natural habitat area that is home

to owls, blue herons, white egrets, chicken hawks, blue birds and

sparrows.

In addition, the lot has been an eyesore in the community, he said.

Richard Marrs, who also lives on Archfield Circle, said the lot killed

wildlife by damaging the food chain. Some field mice, considered to be

food for area birds, were wiped out during the lot’s construction, he

said.

“If this had been a park, [the lot] would not have been used for a

storage area,” he said.

Councilwoman Shirley Dettloff said she is disappointed that “someone

would erect something on future parkland.”

Dettloff said she understands the concerns of neighbors who use the

area frequently.

Tom Zanic, vice president of New Urban West, said that county

officials told the company that the area does not have wildlife and is

subject to weed abatement. Zanic said they were also told that there has

been trash dumping there in the past.

The company plans to restore the site to its original state after the

housing project is finished, Lockington said.

De Lorm said he will send a letter to the Coastal Commission to inform

the agency of the lot’s adverse effect on wildlife.