Groups Get Court Fees in Bolsa Chica Case

The Bolsa Chica Land Trust and three other groups have been awarded $52,943 in attorney fees and legal costs following their court battle against the state Coastal Commission and an Orange County developer, a board member for the trust said Friday.

Superior Court Judge Judith McConnell awarded the fees in the wake of her June court ruling that the commission had improperly approved development on the Bolsa Chica wetlands and the filling of nearby Warner Pond.

The four groups sued after the commission’s January 1996 vote that would have allowed 3,300 homes on and around the ecologically sensitive wetlands near Huntington Beach. Developer Koll Real Estate Group has since scaled back the project to 1,235 homes.

The fees and costs will be paid equally by the commission, Koll, the county of Orange and the Fieldstone Co., a former landowner, said Connie Boardman of the land trust. The money will go to the plaintiffs: the land trust, Huntington Beach Tomorrow, the Sierra Club and the Surfrider Foundation.

“I think this once again shows the land trust had good reason to seek legal action against the Coastal Commission when it violated the Coastal Act,” Boardman said. Officials with Koll and the commission could not be reached for comment Friday night.