Company faces $125,000 fine

A company could have to pay $125,000 for attempting to build on its wetlands property in Huntington Beach and violating the city’s Local Coastal Program and the Coastal Act.

Beachfront Village LLC, formerly known as Mills PCH LLC, could have to pay a fine for constructing a fence and berm and filling, grading and draining part of its salt marsh wetlands on its property. The issue will go before the California Coastal Commission at a public hearing Wednesday.

The fine is part of an agreement between the commission and Beachfront to settle the company’s violations. Beachfront has also been required to remove the development, restore the area, plant vegetation native to Southern California salt marshes and monitor of the area over time.

The property is on Pacific Coast Highway between Newland Street and Beach Boulevard. The commission sent Beachfront a cease and desist order when it began construction in February 2008 without a coastal development permit and in violation of the city’s Local Coast Program. The commission later found the construction to violate the Coastal Act.

The public hearing will begin at 9 a.m. at the Long Beach Civic Center at 333 W. Ocean Blvd. in Long Beach.

— Britney Barnes