School is out on Bolsa Chica issue

NATURAL PERSPECTIVES

It seemed like a good idea at the time. In the 1960s, Huntington

Beach was in the midst of a massive growth spurt. Anticipating the

many children that housing growth would bring, the Ocean View School

District bought property in every quarter section. The idea was to

ensure that they had adequate land for schools.

One of the 15-acre parcels that Ocean View purchased was located

smack in the middle of the lower Bolsa Chica mesa. Development was

rapidly converting a major portion of Anaheim Bay to what is now the

residential community of Huntington Harbour. Development of the Bolsa

Chica seemed imminent. The district anticipated that it would need

land for an elementary school for all the children who would be

living in homes on the Bolsa Chica mesa and in the waterfront homes

in the wetlands.

But that anticipated development never came to pass. Along came

the first Earth Day in 1970. An environmental awakening swept the

country and activism ran rampant. Rowdy radicals in the League of

Women Voters -- people like Ruth Bailey, Charlene Bauer, Herb

Chatterton, Shirley Dettloff, Nancy Donaven, the late Ruth Finley,

Mary Ellen Houseal, Rhoda Martyn and Linda Moon -- studied the Bolsa

Chica issue. They believed that tidelands had been illegally

transferred from state ownership into the hands of a developer. They

knew something had to be done to stop development on the wetlands.

The League of Women Voters study group formed a political advocacy

organization in 1976. This group, the Amigos de Bolsa Chica, fought

to protect the wetlands. At that time, more than 5,700 homes were

slated to be built on the mesa and wetlands. The Amigos successfully

blocked development on the delineated wetlands and got the planned

housing density greatly reduced.

The Bolsa Chica Land Trust formed in the 1992 to protect the Bolsa

Chica mesa and all of the lowlands from development. They’ve

succeeded in reducing the planned housing density ever more. Now the

Amigos de Bolsa Chica and the Bolsa Chica Land Trust work together to

protect the greater Bolsa Chica ecosystem.

The lower bench of the Bolsa Chica mesa received some protection

last year from the California Coastal Commission, which turned down

the developer’s request to build homes there. Now the school district

must determine if their land on the lower mesa should be declared

surplus property. The anticipated number of children in that area is

simply not going to materialize. And even if it did, the district

already has six closed sites that could be reactivated.

Since the need appears to be gone due to a combination of changing

demographics and reduced planned housing density, the district is now

considering whether to declare the property surplus and sell it.

That’s exactly what we think they should do.

The school site is near Warner Pond, which is a highly sensitive

saltwater marsh and valuable fish-breeding habitat. When the pond

goes dry, which it does on occasion, you can see the scooped out

depressions made by the fish when they laid eggs and reared young.

There is also a little-known swale freshwater wetland/riparian area

with willow habitat near the school site. It’s small, but it’s

ecologically valuable.

But perhaps the most compelling reason to not build a school on

this site is the fact that it is traversed by the Newport-Inglewood

earthquake fault. The Alquist-Priolo Earthquake Zoning Act prohibits

building any school in an area that is likely to suffer damage during

the life of the school building. Seems reasonable. Who wants to send

their kids to a school that might fall down on them? The last big

quake on this so-called 50-year fault was in 1933. It’s overdue for

another major temblor.

Bottom line: here’s why the property isn’t suitable for a school.

There is no current need for a school in this area. If a need arises

in the future, there are six closed school sites in the district that

could be reopened. The proposed school site is on ecologically

sensitive habitat that the Coastal Commission says can’t be used for

building. And an earthquake fault traverses the property.

The Ocean View District Advisory Committee will review community

input and written comments on Wednesday. At the school board’s

regular meeting on May 6, the advisory committee will present its

recommendations to the board. Assuming the property is put up for

sale, the Wildlife Conservation Board is poised to buy the site with

Proposition 50 funds. This proposition specifically mentions purchase

of Bolsa Chica land. But the Wildlife Conservation Board would

require as a condition of purchase that the surrounding property on

the lower mesa also be available. Since Hearthside Homes, the current

landholder of the surrounding property, worked to pass Prop 50, it

would seem that they would be a willing seller.

It would be wonderful if this valuable buffer for the Bolsa Chica

wetlands could be preserved for the enjoyment of the public. Kids

might derive a lot more educational benefit from a fully functioning

Bolsa Chica ecosystem than from more roads, buildings and parking

lots.

* VIC LEIPZIG and LOU MURRAY are Huntington Beach residents and

environmentalists. They can be reached at [email protected].