Commentary: Coastal Commission is bound to turn down Banning Ranch again

Recently, the Newport Banning Ranch company, which is promoting a large project on the mesa of Banning Ranch in Newport Beach, sent another in a series of development applications to the Coastal Commission.

Here is why I believe that another in a long line of rejections will result:

1.) We are in midst of a water shortage. Since Gov. Jerry Brown declared a water crisis and ordered a 25% cut in usage, every new sizable development needs serious scrutiny, and this one surely deserves second thoughts considering the 1,375 units that are planned.

2.) We’ve got a pretty big nature shortage. Our very crowded roads and towns offer testament to the fact that Southern California is full. We are built out. So the open space that’s left is of very high value to the health and well-being of the region.

3.) The California Coastal Act says paving an environmentally sensitive habitat areas is a no-no. This land, in my view, is chock full of such areas. Developers are proposing to re-create certain small mitigation areas as compensation for fragmenting the ecological gems there. But in our fully developed region, there is nowhere left to put this mitigation.

4.) It’s time for the oil wells to cease production. In 1973, the small oil company that has worked that land received permits to drill a certain number of wells and was to be done extracting by 1996. It has exceeded the quota and time frame. And in a time of rising sea levels, the oil poses a risk.

5.) The company has not scored points with its over-mowing and was told to cease the practice or be penalized by the Coastal Commission at a recent hearing in Chula Vista.

6.) Citizens got involved and stayed involved. For years now, many of us have dug in very hard to fight for this place. It has made a big difference.

KEVIN NELSON is a member of the Nature Commission, a San Clemente-based environmental group.