Development OKd Despite Concern Over Gnatcatcher : Project: Rancho Palos Verdes planning agency tentatively approves a golf course and residential proposal. Critics fear it will destroy nesting sites.

Despite warnings that it could further endanger the California gnatcatcher, the Rancho Palos Verdes Planning Commission has tentatively approved the development of the 250-acre Hon-Zuckerman golf course and residential project in the coastal bluffs area.

The controversial proposal is drawing strong protests from the Coastal Conservation Coalition, a group of environmental organizations that includes the Sierra Club and the Audubon Society. The coalition fears that the 18-hole golf course will destroy the nesting sites of the imperiled songbirds.

Wildlife experts doing an environmental assessment of the project have identified nearly 17 acres of coastal sage scrub where the birds nest. Nearly a third of that will be affected by the project, they report.

At the commission’s request, Orange County developer Barry Hon and Ken Zuckerman of Palos Verdes Estates have agreed to protect or restore 11 acres of habitat. In addition, they voluntarily agreed to restore nine additional acres, officials said.

If the project receives final approval from the commission and the City Council, the golf clubhouse will be located near the intersection of Paseo Del Mar and La Rotonda Drive, south of Palos Verdes Drive South, planners said. Mini-parks, coastal access trails and roadside overlooks will be included in the project.

However, the environmental coalition is adamantly opposed to the development of a golf course and is vowing to continue the fight to block it. Although the group opposes the golf course, it is not opposed to the 80 home sites that will be developed on the bluffs, spokesman Andy Sargent said.

The project will come before the commission for final approval March 31. If approved and sent to the council, the plan will again go through review and hearings, officials said.