Coastal Panel Staff Urges OK of Dredging Project at Port : Harbor: If approved Wednesday, the 582-acre project would be among the largest ever begun on the West Coast.

In what could pave the way for the state’s largest coastal development in at least 20 years, the staff of the California Coastal Commission has recommended approval of a giant dredging-and-landfill project pivotal to the Port of Los Angeles’ proposed $2-billion expansion.

The recommendation represents a breakthrough in the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ longstanding plan to deepen the harbor’s shipping channels and expand Terminal Island for new cargo terminals. The corps’ $580-million proposal is slated for a vote by the Coastal Commission Wednesday in Monterey. If approved, the 582-acre dredging project would be the largest ever approved by the commission and among the largest ever undertaken on the West Coast.

For years, the corps’ proposal--and the port’s planned expansion--have been held up by the commission on grounds that the projects are too large and environmentally disruptive. The commission and its staff also have raised concerns about approving the project in a single vote when the dredging and construction of landfills would span a decade.

After weeks of negotiations, officials with the commission, corps and port have reached an agreement that--if accepted by the full commission--would allow the entire 582-acre project to proceed, but only in stages that would each be subject to future review.

Further, the corps and port have agreed that the waterways lost to the projects must be replaced, on an acre-for-acre basis, with coastal restoration projects elsewhere in Southern California. Previously, they had hoped to persuade the commission to accept alternative environmental projects such as artificial reefs.

“Our staff believes that the changes made in the project . . . will ensure the commission will have adequate review over all phases of the 582-acre project,” said Larry Simon, the commission’s ports’ coordinator.

If approved, officials from the corps hope to begin dredging sometime next year.

Dwayne Lee, the port’s deputy executive director of development, added that the changes could clear the way for the port’s long-discussed 2020 Plan--an expansion project so named because it is designed to guide development of the harbor for the next 30 years.

“I think it (the commission staff’s recommendation) is a major milestone for the 2020 Plan,” Lee said.

Though the project will continue to pose significant consequences like the loss of recreational boating, the Coastal Commission’s Simon said he and other staff won all the concessions they could in negotiations with the port and the corps.

Simon noted, for example, that the commission is limited to deciding whether proposed projects are consistent with the 1976 Coastal Act. And while that law limits development, Simon said it also specifies that the Port of Los Angeles is among four deep-water ports in the state where the priority is commerce, not recreation.

As such, Simon said, the commission staff was limited in placing restrictions on the corps’ project as long as the plans met other environmental and procedural requirements of the Coastal Act. Things such as air emissions, Simon added, would fall under the jurisdiction of other agencies.

How those agencies will view the revised proposal remains unclear, Simon said.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, which previously opposed the project, has changed its position, Simon said, but the project has had other detractors, including the Environmental Protection Agency and the state Department of Fish and Game.