HUNTINGTON BEACH : Roadside Rhymes Pitch Ecology Plea

Five thousand homes

Won’t hurt the least

Says the corporate owner

From back East

Save it don’t pave it

Bolsa Chica Land Trust

Members of the Bolsa Chica Land Trust citizens’ group have been posting signs with these messages every 500 feet or so along the fringe of the Bolsa Chica Ecological Reserve as they battle plans to develop the environmentally sensitive area.

Flossie Horgan, president of the organization, said she got the idea for the roadside markers from the old Burma Shave signs that used to brighten lonely rural highways with their snappy messages that ended with a plea to buy Burma Shave shaving cream.

Horgan, her mother, Eileen Murphy, and three other Land Trust members stood in the rain early Thursday along Pacific Coast Highway. At the end of the string of small signs, they held a large white and blue banner that urged, “Save the Bolsa Chica.”

“We’re trying to alert the community to what is at risk,” Horgan said.

Commuters frequently honked and gave the thumbs-up gesture. Horgan, an anatomy and physiology teacher at Long Beach City College, said she takes the response as a support for the preservation effort.

“Just look at this,” she pointed at a smiling driver. “People don’t want it built on.”

The group generally posts the signs on Thursdays from 7 to 9 a.m., depending on the weather. The signs are removed after each showing so they won’t get stolen, Horgan said.

The Koll Co. of Newport Beach, which is planning the development for Bolsa Chica Co. landowners, wants to build 4,884 homes on 427 acres. The plan also calls for restoration of 1,100 acres of wetlands.

Koll Co. Senior Vice President Lucy Dunn on Thursday accused the Bolsa Chica Land Trust of hurting the chances of wetlands restoration. She said the only feasible way to restore the wetlands is to finance it through the construction of homes.

According to an environmental impact report issued last year, it would cost $101 million to restore the wetlands. The Koll Co. has said it would pay $30 million of that amount if its development plans are approved.

“With no development, there will be no restoration,” Dunn said. “Why are they wasting their time writing funny poems when they supposedly are out looking for money (to restore the wetlands)?”

The city’s planning staff has decided to call for a revision of the environmental impact report, seeking more details on wetlands restoration and traffic impacts, according to Laura Phillips, an associate planner.

A revised version of the EIR isn’t expected to be available for public review for several months.