Shea Parkside Minutes - February 12, 2002
Last updated February 13, 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.
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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.
Webmaster: Mark Bixby