2 O.C. Cities Unhappy With Project’s Progression : Development: Huntington officials call for a new environmental impact report. Seal Beach flat out opposes the Koll Real Estate Group’s housing plans.

HUNTINGTON BEACH —  In a dramatic show of opposition to a proposed development on the Bolsa Chica wetlands, two city councils on Monday expressed their dissatisfaction with the project.

In Seal Beach, council members unanimously went on record against the housing development, saying it would could clog Seal Beach streets with traffic and strain emergency services in the area.

“I want the County of Orange aware that we oppose this project,” Mayor Gwen Forsythe said. “We just don’t want it here.”

In Huntington Beach, the City Council voted to urge Orange County to write and circulate a completely new environmental impact report on the project.

“It is beyond repair and must be completely redone,” Councilman Dave Sullivan said of the county’s existing EIR. “It is incomplete, inadequate and a clunker.”

The city recently hired a consultant to study the EIR, released in December, on the Koll Real Estate Group’s proposal to build 4,286 homes on 400 acres in the Bolsa Chica wetlands.

The consultant, Steven A. Roseman, told the council on Monday that the report has serious deficiencies under state law. It “deprives the public of meaningful comment,” Roseman said. It also does not go far enough in looking at feasible alternatives, including development at another location. Nor does it deal adequately with hazardous material removal or with a fiscal impact to the city of about $58 million, he said.

The vote was 4 to 2, with Councilmen Jim Silva and Earle Robitaille dissenting.

Monday’s meeting was the second to be held at Huntington Beach City Hall in recent weeks on plans by the Koll company, owner of the land, to build the homes in exchange for spending $48 million to restore the wetlands.

About 600 people, reportedly the largest turnout at City Hall in recent years, attended the first meeting on Jan. 31, and about 70 spoke for or against the project.

City officials scheduled the meetings after Orange County officials refused to hold a public hearing on the project in Huntington Beach. County officials claimed it would be nearly impossible to answer each comment in a public meeting. Instead, they said people could respond in writing to the draft EIR by Friday.

The draft environmental impact report, prepared by the county and released in December, said that the development could, among other things, significantly increase traffic and result in the loss of 4% of the beach along Pacific Coast Highway.

The draft EIR also included a “modified project alternative” that purportedly addressed many of the environmental concerns raised by an earlier report issued by the city of Huntington Beach last year.

It also contained a proposal for a “biodiversity park”--essentially complete restoration of the wetlands with no residential construction--which county planners characterized as an “environmentally superior” alternative to development.

The 1,500-page report represents the culmination of 20 years of discussion and research regarding the fate of the Bolsa Chica wetlands, according to Tom Mathews, director of planning for Orange County’s Environmental Management Agency.

On one side of the controversy is Koll, which has proposed to spend $48 million to restore 1,100 acres of wetlands in exchange for the right to build houses on the rest.

On the other are environmentalists who contend that the area next to Pacific Coast Highway should be left alone or restored to its natural state, but have no money to either purchase or replenish it.

Correspondent Shelby Grad contributed to this report.