Bolsa Chica Bill Needs 1 Change

State Sen. Marian Bergeson (R-Newport Beach) has introduced a bill now wending its way through the Legislature that would create a special district to finance a residential-marina complex on the Bolsa Chica wetlands. In addition to homes and a marina, the development plan would preserve 915 acres of the area’s wetlands.

Under the original version, Signal Landmark Co., the major landowner and developer, would control the special district’s five-member governing board, which would oversee financing of $230 million in public works needed before homes can be built.

A compromise amendment added last Monday gives landowners three seats, with the other two going to the county and the City of Huntington Beach. An added safeguard requires four votes before bonds can be issued or assessments levied to raise money for public works.

That change makes it a better bill. But it would be better still if the governing board had more public representation, with development interests getting two seats, the city and county one each and the fifth going to a citizen selected by the other four.