At right: The 9.38-acre area on the day that it was razed and graded in March 2009. Photo by Ryan ZumMallen.
4:00pm | The California Coastal Commission ordered the owners of 9.38 acres of wetlands-area property near the Los Cerritos River in Long Beach to restore the land with native plant habitat after it was razed and graded without proper permits in early 2009.
The ruling overrides one made by the City of Long Beach’s Zoning Administration last year, when Planning Officer Derek Burnham ruled that the land could not be restored because it had been destroyed beyond recognition and there was no way to know what the area had previously contained. Burnham granted “After-The-Fact” permits, but many in the City Hall crowd saw the action as a Get Out Of Jail Free card.
The Los Cerritos Wetlands Trust, a local environmental advocacy group, appealed that ruling to the Coastal Commission and saw their appeal approved on Friday.
The issue caused an uproar when the owner of 2H Constuction, Sean Hitchcock, purchased the land and about one week later sent earth-moving machinery to the site and cleared it of all vegetation that many said was wetlands habitat and housed native species of plants and animals in April 2009. The City of Long Beach sent orders to stop the work several times over two days before it was halted. But by then, the area was unrecognizable and environmentalists claimed foul. Hitchcock claimed he was simply following orders from the Fire Department to clear weeds and did not know he needed permits. Opponents said that he owns a large construction company and should have been well acquainted with the rules.
“The commission approved the permit largely going along with staff recommendations to restore almost the entire site, all the areas affected by grading that Hitchcock had previously done,” said Gary Timm, coastal program manager for the Long Beach office of the California Coastal Commission.
Hitchcock was ordered to restore the land with 80-percent native plant coverage and to create ponding and wetland conditions. There must also be contouring to create favorable landscaping for the new wetland environment.
Hitchcock has 60 days to submit a restoration plan to the commission, and 90 days after that to complete the initial planting. He must then monitor the land and submit reports to the commission every year for five years.
“The reports must meet all standards set in the conditions approved,” said Timm. “The site was graded to such an extent that it was hard to tell what was there before, but there is some older photographic evidence. It is harder to tell what was there in terms of vegetation, but what you can tell is if the site did serve as habitat for native bird species and animal species as well.”
Hitchcock maintained that he had always intended to build soccer fields for children on the site. His supporters pointed out that the land was not wetlands, and had been used as a dump for more than twenty years until the early 1960s. But nearby residents said that was part of the problem, as the grading unleashed harmful fumes that had been buried and would not be safe for playing children.