Coastal Commission OKs Crystal Cove project

Alex Coolman

HUNTINGTON BEACH -- The California Coastal Commission on Thursday

approved plans for a controversial and extensively modified drainage

system for a development above Crystal Cove State Park.

The drainage system for a 635-home Irvine Co. project was approved

after a full day of charged debate in which company representatives

squared off against a host of environmentalists and community members.

Andi Culbertson, an attorney representing the Irvine Co., said the

changes had made the project one that would be respectful of the delicate

Crystal Cove environment.

“We believe that many of the concerns [raised by activists] are based

on theory and conjecture,� rather than fact, she said.

The Irvine Co. had been struggling since January to get the

commission’s approval on the project, which spells out the company’s

plans for handling urban runoff, wetlands mitigation, beach sand

replenishment and other environmental details.

The process has involved extensive revisions, including the removal of

a controversial water detention basin that would have been located in

Muddy Canyon. Under the new proposal, the basin will be eliminated.

But in the days before Wednesday’s meeting, the Irvine Co. and

commission staff also hammered out additional details on issues such as

storm flow and erosion rates. These changes were detailed in 50-plus

pages of staff reports released Tuesday as an addendum to the nearly 100

pages of preliminary reports.

Over the course of Wednesday’s meeting, as commissioners expressed

concerns about issues such as water treatment and sand replenishment, the

convoluted document was further modified.

And though area residents testified emotionally to their concern for

Crystal Cove, Culbertson noted that many of the broader environmental

issues raised by project opponents were not germane to the limited

question before the commission.

Activists -- from groups such as the Alliance to Rescue Crystal Cove,

the Sierra Club, Orange County CoastKeeper and the Earth Resources

Foundation -- countered that the recent history of environmental

degradation in the area made this decision of particular importance.

“It’s the last part of the 42 miles of Orange County coastline that we

haven’t yet screwed up,� said Garry Brown, director of Orange County

CoastKeeper.