At least that's what government officials, property owners and residents hope to accomplish if a multi-layered purchase of several hundred acres of the degraded Los Cerritos Wetlands goes through.
The wetlands, encompassing three properties, takes up a portion of Long Beach and Seal Beach, surrounding the San Gabriel River flood channel that borders Los Angeles and Orange counties.
For decades, the land has stood with a few oil wells and mostly vacant territory, scattered with animals, birds and vegetation.
But several anticipated land acquisitions could change all that.
Last week, the City of Long Beach announced a deal that could move a portion of wetlands into public domain, according to the Los Cerritos Wetlands Authority, a joint powers agreement, adopted among several agencies and cities to purchase and protect the land.
The agency is made up of the Rivers and Mountains Conservancy, State Coastal Conservancy and cities of Long Beach and Seal Beach.
The deal would include Long Beach swapping city properties for the 175 acre piece of land formerly owned by the Bixby Company, now owned by developer Tom Dean, the authority states.
In return for the sale, the property owner would be able to purchase the city's public service yard on San Francisco Street, Long Beach Gas and Oil’s headquarters on Spring Street and Junipero, 29.5 acres of frontage on Spring Street, a location formerly known as the “Sports Park” and now designated the “Hilltop Property," and two other small parcels—one at Spring and Atlantic and one at Cherry and Creston.
“City Hall would sell the wetlands property to the LCWA for a sum currently estimated at $25 million,” the authority states.
City management plans to use the money from that sale to support efforts to acquire, restore and develop the 19-acre Wrigley Heights "oil operators" property as open space and develop 18 acres of open space at the “Hilltop Property.”
However, the purchase might not only just pertain to land in Long Beach, but could also open up the purchasing
power for the rest of the wetlands, a majority that now sits in Seal Beach.The wetlands is currently split up into three properties: the Hellman Ranch property, which is about 100 acres that leads up to Gum Grove Park below Marina Hill in Seal Beach, the Bixby property along Pacific Coast Highway past the overpass in Long Beach and the Bryant property which consists of 166 acres in both cities.
Only after purchasing all of the land would a full restoration begin to take hold, something some say would be similar to Bolsa Chica's restoration project and ocean inlet that has brought flocks of migratory birds back to their nesting places.
"We want to reintroduce the area as a salt-water marsh, by introducing a tidal flush," said Suzanne Frick, Long Beach assistant city manager. "It's what it's going to be like in the future. If in fact the land swap goes into affect, all three of those properties would be purchased and restored."
She said right now, both the Hellman and Bryant properties are closed off to the ocean waters, while the Bixby site has limited water flush.
Frick, city planners and residents gathered for a workshop session on the matter this Tuesday at Long Beach City Hall. Frick said the LCWA is in negotiations to purchase the Hellman property, but didn't know how much for.
Although it is unknown how much the Hellman property in Seal Beach is up for, the LCWA has secured a few potential funding sources to pay for all three sections of land from coastal conservancy funds and park grant bond dollars.
"I'm fairly confident they can come up with the money to purchase the land," Frick said.
The next step would be for the LCWA to start moving forward with comprehensive plans for the restoration project, which could take years to accomplish after public hearings on the matter.
Seal Beach City Councilman Gordon Shanks said he has been following the Hellman property for about 40 years, and abstained from being on the LCWA since his home currently sits directly above the wetlands.
He said the property has been a point of contention in the city, after controversy arose over Heron Point homes being put in on the edge of the land facing Seal Beach Boulevard. Although much of the acres have been degraded, he said, he looks forward to seeing the restoration process.
"It’s going to be difficult to get it back to wetlands," he said. "But there are a lot of animals and birds that live there."
Greg Cook, of Lakewood, often walks with his dog Howie down to Gum Grove Park, a hidden trail of red gum eucalyptus trees and vegetation, he didn't even know existed until about a year ago.
As a bird watcher, he said bringing the land back to its natural habitat would also bring back migratory birds that once used to flourish.
“I think it would be absolutely tremendous,” he said. “ This is such an important part of nature for migratory birds. It would be a great thing.”
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