Amigos de Bolsa Chica Turning a New Leaf

HUNTINGTON BEACH — For 21 years, the Amigos de Bolsa Chica fought hard to preserve a patch of environmentally sensitive property next to Huntington Beach--the largest unprotected wetlands south of San Francisco.

When the state announced in February it was buying 880 acres of the Bolsa Chica wetlands, all sides praised the Amigos for its long effort to help achieve the agreement, shuttling between the parties involved: the Koll Co., the developer that sold the land rather than build on it; the oil companies that pledged to pay for the cleanup of the former oil field at the site; state and federal agencies that will now restore the wetlands; and the ports of Long Beach and Los Angeles, which will pay for the bulk of the restoration in exchange for expansion of their harbors.

But even though the Amigos has reached the goal that spawned the group, the organization isn’t about to fade into history, Amigos President Tom Livengood says. It’s just beginning a new chapter.

That chapter, however, has started with some plot twists.

Earlier this month, the group fired its executive director of 12 years, Adrianne Morrison, in what Livengood called a cost-cutting move.

“It was time to downsize, as many organizations have to. It may have been a little abrupt and fast, but we really couldn’t keep operating that way,” he said, adding that the Amigos will return to its volunteer, grass-roots origins.

But Morrison said the firing surprised her and she believes it was more for philosophical than economic reasons, although she wouldn’t elaborate.

“I knew that there were differences, but I didn’t think they would be strong enough to dismiss me over,” she said.

Huntington Beach City Councilman Peter M. Green, a former Amigos president, said the parting of ways may have come when the group’s board changed direction by aligning itself with organizations committed to also preserving the mesa next to the Bolsa Chica wetlands, while Morrison’s focus remained on the wetlands.

The Bolsa Chica Land Trust and other environmental groups that wanted the entire Bolsa Chica area preserved had long been at odds with the Amigos and Morrison.

The trust, among others, had criticized the Amigos for supposedly being too cozy with Koll, saying the Amigos made a deal with the devil--wetlands preservation in exchange for support of the 2,400-home development Koll is planning for the mesa.

But on May 2, Livengood released a statement saying the Amigos recognize the right of the landowners on the mesa to do what they want with their property. Significantly, the group said it also would support any move to sell the land to the public to protect it from development.

Still, Livengood emphasized that the Amigos’ primary role is the “protection, acquisition, restoration, monitoring and maintenance of the Bolsa Chica wetlands.”

Land Trust President Nancy Donaven was thrilled the Amigos decided to become allies.

“We’ve been hoping that they would support us in some way, and I feel that this is support,” she said. “For people who were not supporting us at all, this is quite a step forward. It’s not a million dollars in the bank, but it is something.”

Meanwhile, the mesa development is in limbo as Koll negotiates with Huntington Beach for fire, library, police and water service.

At tonight’s City Council meeting, Councilman Tom Harman plans to introduce a resolution that, at the same time the city is negotiating with Koll, the mayor and city administrator should do whatever they can to “facilitate and promote” a third-party purchase of the mesa to preserve it as public open space.

Harman says he’s convinced the city would be better off if the mesa is not developed, because building homes there would create “tremendous adverse economic and environmental impacts.”

Previously, the council voted unanimously to support preservation by purchase or land exchange. Koll senior vice president Lucy Dunn called the council’s action “meaningless.”

“It was a political statement. It has no teeth or meaning,” she said. “The Department of the Interior has consistently said directly to us, ‘We’re not interested in that land.’ And there’s no other land Koll is interested in.”

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Now that the wetlands are in public hands, Dunn said maybe it’s time for the political activism of the Amigos to give way to the restoration plans of a group like the Bolsa Chica Conservancy.

But Livengood countered that restoration has always been the final goal of the Amigos.

The group began in 1976 as a small gathering of League of Women Voters members concerned with a development planned by Signal Landmark Co., the precursor to Koll. Signal wanted to build a 1,300-slip marina, 5,700 homes, oceanfront hotels, shops and restaurants on the wetlands.

Livengood said now it’s time for all the groups concerned with Bolsa Chica--the Amigos, the Land Trust, the Bolsa Chica Conservancy, the Sierra Club, the Surfrider Foundation and others--to work together with state and federal agencies to restore the wetlands to their natural state.

“We think we’re going to be very active,” he said. “We figure another 20 years.”