Shea Parkside Minutes - February 12, 2002

• Monica Hamilton mentioned that although our neighborhood group was founded way back in 1997 , it is now more urgent to establish goals and take action since Shea is progressing through the development process.  We should act in a united manner to add our support to the Bolsa Chica Land Trust's efforts at acquiring greater Bolsa Chica.  Shea purchased this property from the Metropolitan Water District for $11 million back in 1997, and in a public meeting last July, Shea said they would be willing to sell the property for $38 million.
• While involvement in our group does not come with a pressure to make large acquisition donations, every dollar does help.  If you donate or pledge to the BCLT acquisition fund, you can earmark your money to be used solely for the Shea property if you desire, or you can put it into the greater Bolsa Chica fund.
  
• Linda Moon of the Amigos de Bolsa Chica related news about a meeting held with Shea two weeks ago in which Shea said that FEMA has given oral approval to the modified plan calling for 5.5 feet of fill.  But the status of Shea's suspected FEMA LOMC request is still in a pending state.  At this same meeting, Shea was also equivocating about whether or not they were a willing seller, and also expressed a reluctance to sell to a public entity over a fear that opening the land to an appraisal would also open the door to other activities such as soil sampling that are opposed by Shea.
• Linda recommended a three-prong attack:
• fighting the development project on the basis of the adverse impacts that will be inflicted upon the surrounding neighborhoods
• advocating wetlands restoration as the highest, best use for this property
• pursuing acquisition to facilitate the restoration
• Several attendees complained about bad attitudes from city staffers with a perceived tilt towards Shea.  Linda recommended writing letters to the city council complaining about this.
• Volunteers were solicited to conduct visits with the city council in order to advocate our goals.  It was recommended that a common list of talking points be agreed upon in order to promote consistency in our advocacy.  Do not assume that any city person has any memory of any prior contact about this issue!  Keep driving home the key points.
  
• Dean Albright mentioned a project advocated by city councilperson Ralph Bauer (?) to dam off the Wintersburg Channel with an air bladder behind the post office on Warner Ave, and redirect non-storm flow south to the lakes of Central Park for natural filtration, which would then drain into the Slater Channel to flow westward back into the Wintersburg.  Multiple attendees agreed that the Shea property could serve this same function.  Dean also mentioned Barlett Park east of Beach Blvd between Yorktown and Adams as an example of a restored wetlands/detention area.
• Dean also mentioned that a current (or was that 1998?) traffic study showed an average of 10,000 cars per day on Graham Street, and that the Marine View gym project is anticipated to add another 900 cars per day.  And of course the Shea project would add still more cars to that.  Everybody agreed traffic on Graham is horrible on Marine View school mornings.
• Discussion ensued about the inadequacy of the single exit road connecting with Graham Street.  Emergency ingress and egress through the normally chained Greenleaf exit would depend on all responding emergency personnel having the key to unlock the chains.
  
• Monica mentioned the tidal gates located adjacent to Talbert Regional Park where Hamilton crosses the Santa Ana River and becomes Victoria as an example of what she is advocating for the Shea property in a technical restoration proposal to be submitted to the Southern California Wetlands Restoration Project in about a week.
• Monica and Linda both urged a Yes vote on Proposition 40 on the March 5th ballot since it will provide monies that could be used for the acquisition and restoration of the Shea property.
• Monica mentioned the Earth Day activities being planned by local environmental groups for April 20th between 10AM and 2PM and solicited volunteers to man tables, lead walking tours, etc.
• Questions were raised regarding the current zoning of the property and state of the development process.  The property is still likely zoned as agricultural in order to minimize the tax burden for Shea, and the development process is still in the EIR stage where Shea is formulating responses to all of the neighborhood feedback received earlier.
• A discussion was had about whether or not it would be worth the effort to become an IRS-registered tax-exempt organization.  The general consensus was not to bother with this at the current time.
• Brief discussion was held about a group name, and Neighbors for Winterburg Wetlands Restoration seemed to work for everybody.
• Volunteers were solicited to host future meetings, and several people stepped forward.
• Volunteers were solicited to become block captains responsible for keeping their neighbors informed.
  
• Mark Bixby plugged the web site and e-mailing list, and conducted a quick survey about home Internet connectivity.  Most people are still using 56K analog modems, with just a few people having ISDN or broadband access.  He also asked for additional content such as video or photographs showing the wetlands-tendencies of the property, as well as any relevant correspondence with city or county staffers.