Groups Seek to Block Bolsa Chica Project : Development: Seal Beach will join environmental organizations in filing a suit to invalidate go-ahead from Orange County supervisors.

HUNTINGTON BEACH —  The city of Seal Beach and a handful of environmental groups plan to file a lawsuit Tuesday seeking to invalidate last month’s approval of the Bolsa Chica development by the county Board of Supervisors, leaders of the groups said Friday.

The lawsuit will claim that an environmental impact report prepared by the county was flawed and not in compliance with state law, according to environmental land-use attorney Phil Seymour, who represents the groups planning the lawsuit.

If the county conducts a new environmental impact report, “our hope is that the county Board of Supervisors would eventually change their decision on the development,” Seymour said.

The Huntington Beach City Council twice rejected a motion to sue the county over the residential development. But in Seal Beach, council members say that Seal Beach Boulevard will be overwhelmed by traffic from the development.

“We’re already saturated,” said Seal Beach Mayor George Brown. “We can’t handle the additional traffic.”

Lucy Dunn, Koll Co.’s senior vice president, said that “the environmental impact report analyzed this project to levels unseen in the entire history of” the California Environmental Quality Act. “I would suspect that the county would defend the lawsuit vigorously.”

Board of Supervisors Chairman Gaddi H. Vasquez and Supervisor Jim Silva, who represents Huntington Beach, could not be reached for comment. The board approved the project Dec. 14.

The Bolsa Chica Land Trust, Huntington Beach Tomorrow and the Gabrielino Shoshone Nation are taking part in the legal action planned against the 3,300-home Koll Co. development.

The Sierra Club’s Preserve Bolsa Chica Task Force is awaiting approval from its parent organization to take part in the litigation, according to spokesman Bob Williams. The Surfrider Foundation plans to file a friend-of-the-court brief in support of the lawsuit, according to spokesman Charles Moore.

Bob Winchell, president of the environmental group Huntington Beach Tomorrow, says the concerns of his members go beyond traffic. “It ranges from open-space considerations to wetlands conservation,” Winchell said. “But the most immediate concerns are cost.”

The Bolsa Chica development could cost Huntington Beach up to $60 million in road construction and additional city services, Winchell said.

But Dunn said the company is in negotiations with Huntington Beach to provide compensation for additional water, fire, police and sewer services.