College Park East residents called for a closer look at flooding, traffic, noise at last week’s meeting on the EIR for the proposed Old Ranch Country Club Specific Plan. They also raised concerns about transparency, liquefaction and preservation of trees.
The proposed project would change the zoning of the land. That would happen sometime after the Final EIR is completed. The decision would be up to the new City Council.
The public has until March 7 to comment on the proposed environmental impact report. (Comments on the project should be emailed to Seal Beach Planning Manager Shaun Temple at stemple@sealbeachca.gov.)
After the EIR is done, the public will have 45 days to comment, according to the chair of the city’s Environmental Quality Control Board.
The project: The owners of Old Ranch are requesting a specific plan for the property that would include a hotel, a medical office and two residential developments.
Critics of the project say that a development agreement prohibits such a project. However, it appears that if the council eventually approves the Old Ranch Specific Plan then the development agreement would no longer apply.
According to some city officials, an approved specific plan would essentially replace the development agreement.
On Wednesday, Feb. 22, the city’s Environmental Quality Control Board took public comments on the proposed environmental impact report for the project. The EIR has not been done yet. The 12 members of the public who spoke to the Board had their own ideas.
District Three Board Member Richard Coles chaired the meeting. District One Board Member Gary Allen and District Four Board Member Catherine Showalter were also present. The District Five EQCB seat is presently vacant. District Two Board Member Benjamin Wong was absent.
Chair Coles said the purpose of the meeting was to gather information, not to decide whether the project will go forward.
The city has hired Psomas to do the EIR of the project.
Alia Kokuki, a senior project manager/associate with Psomas, said the purpose of the meeting was to hear and solicit comments. She told the public that the Final EIR was anticipated in the fall of 2023.
Background
The proposed site plan for Old Ranch Country Club would include the following:
• a new swimming pool and related structures next to the clubhouse.
• The golf course driving range would be changed from a two-way range to a one-way range.
• a 116 unit, four-level, multi-family development
• a 51-unit, three-level senior housing complex (with a 25,340-square foot medical office on the ground floor)
• a 150 unit hotel (with lounge, bar, and restaurant, a three-level parking structure with 591 stalls (with four tennis courts on the top level).
According to a document made available to the public at the meeting, the project proposes 1,042 parking spaces overall.
Streets, surface areas, and landscaping would also be part of the project.
Comments and questions
The Environmental Quality Control Board did not place a time limit on public comments.
Glen Rabenn, who said he was a College Park East resident and a member of Old Ranch, commented first.
According to Rabenn, this was not the only project in the area. He was apparently referring to the Lampson Avenue residential development in Los Alamitos. (For the latest on the Lampson project, see page 11.)
Rabenn said he did not believe that Seal Beach and Los Alamitos should be allowed to look at either project in a vacuum. He said some effort needs to be made to look at both projects. He expressed concern about the impact of the many proposed facilities on traffic.
Kokuki said the cumulative impact would be considered.
Mario Voce, a past member of the EQCB, called for a look at the hydrology in the area. (As noted in a recent Sun article, flooding is a long-standing issue in College Park East.)
Voce asked if print copies of the report would be available. “We need to read this stuff,” Voce said.
He said it would be difficult to read on a computer screen.
Board Member Coles said it was imperative for the EIR to have thorough hydrology.
Voce also called for the preservation of eucalyptus trees.
Susan Barembaum also said hydrology was important. She said the neighborhood has poor grading. Barembaum suggested doing a study of flooding on the golf course first.
Barembaum’s comments drew applause.
Board Member Coles said the surface water was beyond the purview of the meeting, but it was something the city needed to consider.
Carol Churchill raised the issue of liquefaction.
(According to Merriam-Webster, the third definition of liquefaction is the “conversion of soil into a fluidlike mass during an earthquake or other seismic event”.)
Churchill asked if the EIR would look at the stability of buildings in the area.
Churchill also asked if developers will be required to put things underground.
Board Member Coles said that projects of this size include a geotechnical survey.
Derek Boyer wanted to know if salt water affected fresh water. He asked if it was true that water actually goes onto the golf course. He asked if the hydrology study would address that.
Susan Perrell, apparently referring to the initial study, said she found the hydrology report hard to follow and some statements in it were contradictory. She hoped the EIR would provide better maps.
Susan Perrell, apparently referring to the initial study that comes before an EIR, said she found the hydrology report hard to read.
The next three speakers did not provide their names.
Dan Brandt said he was disappointed that this was not a Zoom meeting. He complained about what he saw as a lack of transparency. Objected to notice being sent to people living within 500 feet of the country club.
In response to comments, Coles said a traffic analysis would be part of the EIR. He also asked if the city could send a mailer to the residents of College Park East.
City Planning Manager Temple provided his phone number, which is (562) 431-2527.
Temple said that when you look at flood zones, you go to the Army Corps of Engineers.
Community Development Director Alexa Smittle addressed the old development agreement for the property.
She said the land use zoning has not changed.
She said the project is a specific plan which would replace the existing development agreement.
Development agreement in question
The Sun recently looked at the “Bixby Old Ranch Development Agreement,” which was dated both July 17, 1997, and Nov. 23, 1989 on the title page.
The third paragraph under 1.2 Statement of Benefits lists “the preservation of open space from development for a specified term of years (30 years)” among the benefits that the city will receive.
“Yes, there is a ‘development restriction’ that still remains in the Bixby Ranch Development Agreement that limits the zoning at Old Ranch to Recreation, Golf, or Open Space until 2029. (I believe it is in section C),” wrote District Four Councilwoman Schelly Sustarsic in a Feb. 21 email.
“However, I have been told that the City Council could vote to change that agreement, apparently by adopting a new agreement,” Sustarsic wrote.
“By the way. I asked Craig Steele to review the Development Agreement, in regard to the restriction to Recreation Golf zoning, a few years ago. He told me that it seemed pretty firm,” Sustarsic wrote in a follow-up email.
“There were people up here who fought to get that commitment (after the large Bixby development was pushed through). It does not make folks happy to hear that that promise can be easily swapped out by a different council,” Sustarsic wrote.
