SEAL BEACH : Wetland Restoration Proposal Approved

Over objections of a local environmental group, the California Coastal Commission voted unanimously Thursday to approve a developer’s restoration plan for 41 acres of wetlands in northwest Seal Beach.

Mola Development Corp. said the decision ends four years of public hearings and permit applications for the 329-unit residential development.

“This is it, we can start building now,” Mola project director Kirk Evans said.

The company plans to have engineering plans for the $300-million project completed within four months and hopes to break ground this summer, Evans said.

But according to city officials, a lawsuit filed last year against the city by the Wetlands Restoration Society may prevent Mola from breaking ground as early as the firm wants.

The suit, filed in December, maintains that any permits or development agreements signed by the city before its state-required housing plan is updated are invalid.

Orange County Superior Court Commissioner Ronald L. Bauer ruled last week that the city’s housing plan is obsolete and ordered the city not to issue more residential building permits until it is updated. The city hopes to have the plan updated by May.

According to city officials, Bauer is expected to supplement the verbal order with a written order, in which he may invalidate permits granted while the housing plan was invalid.

“The judge may determine that the development agreement between the city and Mola is improper,” said the city’s director of development, Lee Whittenberg. “If he does, we may have to initiate a whole new public hearing process and another council vote.”

Ecologist Walton Wright, a consultant to the Wetland Restoration Society, told the commission Thursday: “This is a bad plan; the slopes are too steep, and the design just doesn’t encourage the diversity in plant and animal life I think people will expect.”

But Mola officials said the restoration plan is valid.

“We are going forward,” Evans said. “This plan was approved because it is a good restoration plan. We’re very excited about it.”