Hearing Ordered, Work Slowed at Bolsa Chica Site

A judge Wednesday ordered a hearing next month that could lead to a new environmental study at a Huntington Beach construction site where ancient bones were found last week.

Orange County Superior Court Judge William McDonald set a Sept. 8 hearing to determine if discovery of human remains on a 6-acre site overlooking the Bolsa Chica wetlands requires a full environmental review.

Hearthside Homes, formerly known as Koll Real Estate Group, is building 16 houses at the site near the intersection of Los Patos and Bolsa Chica avenues. Huntington Beach city officials said previous archeological review had determined an environmental report was not necessary.

But discovery last week of skull fragments and a tooth estimated to be 8,000 years old has prompted critics to charge that the builders may have improperly bulldozed an ancient Native American burial ground.

Illustrating a wide gulf between the developer and project opponents, each side claimed victory after Wednesday’s court proceedings.

Lawyers for Bolsa Chica Land Trust, which has long opposed the project, touted an informal agreement to largely stop construction until next month’s hearing.

“They’re not building until the court makes a decision, and that’s all we wanted to have. We got virtually everything we wanted,” said Paul Horgan, an attorney and president of the trust.

Lucy Dunn, executive vice president of developer Hearthside Homes, countered by pointing out the judge refused to issue an injunction sought by project opponents.

“The judge . . . did not grant a single request of theirs, and we didn’t agree to anything,” she said.

After the hearing the judge said he did not order the requested halt to grading because that work is already complete. But he is relying on the developer’s word that the company will build nothing except a perimeter wall on the site before the September hearing. “I’d be very unhappy if that representation was incorrect,” McDonald said.

Adding to controversy stemming from discovery of bones at the site, one expert said the developer may have broken the law by waiting until grading was complete before notifying the Orange County coroner.

Judy Suchey, an archeologist hired by the county to examine the remains, called the timing of the call to the coroner about the find “very unusual.” Under state law, bulldozers are supposed to stop work immediately.

Dunn said that work was stopped immediately in the immediate area of the find, as required by law, and that it was Suchey who delayed visiting the site by a day.

The debate is by no means the first over ancient human remains at Orange County construction sites. Last year another developer, the Irvine Co., admitted its workers moved 600 sets of bones from an ancient burial ground. Critics in 1993 charged that Hearthside Homes also covered up the discovery of ancient remains at another Bolsa Chica development site--another claim that Dunn denied.

Critics of the 16-home development used the new find to bolster their arguments before McDonald in Wednesday’s already scheduled hearing. Owens Miller, a lawyer for the opponents, contended further work will destroy irreplaceable artifacts.

“There’s substantial evidence that additional unique artifacts might be found,” Miller said. “We ask you to protect the site.”

John Flynn, attorney for Hearthside Homes, denied that the finds are significant.

The finds “do not qualify as unique archeological resources,” he said. California law, he argued, does not require an environmental impact report “unless they are unique.”

City News Service contributed to this report.