The owner of property at 6400 Loynes Drive had claimed, according to the Los Cerritos Wetlands Land Trust, that he had been working under the order of “weed abatement,” for a still-to-be-determined development project, and in the process apparently "illegally graded" sensitive habitat areas, home to endangered birds, burrowing owls, and native vegetation.Plans for the project have frequently changed over the past few years– mainly because of controversy over whether the area or brackish pond is actually considered wetlands, involving SEADIP requirements and amendments to the Local Coastal Program. How much the developer will be fined is also in question.
The Land Trust and its environmental leaders have taken a strong position against the developer's actions, with environmentalists and community members holding rallies out in front of the property, and are now working with the California Coastal Commission and the Long Beach Planning Commission on plans for the developer to recover and restore the destruction that had taken place. Next week, the Land Trust is sharing some of those plans with the public during a presentation with Professor Travis Longcore of the UCLA Institute of the Environment and Sustainability and Associate Research Professor and USC’s Spatial Sciences Institute, who is working as a consultant to prepare a biological report. The staff recommendation so far is to “Import 1,000 cubic yards of soil to re-establish and maintain a cap over an existing landfill” in response to the Coastal Commission’s emergency permit and re-vegetation and weed abatement, which the commission is set to vote during a meeting scheduled for November 19. The Land Trust presentation is being held November 15 at 7 p.m. at the Belmont Shores Mobile Home Estates Clubhouse.
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