The California Coastal Commission delayed a decision on whether to rezone a 29-acre site in southeast Huntington Beach, raising concerns about future flooding caused by sea level rise in an area where a developer seeks to build homes and a hotel.
The site, called the Magnolia Tank Farm, is planned to have around 250 homes and a 215-room hotel built on it. The developer needs the commission to approve rezoning the site in southeast Huntington Beach to move forward with the project.
Several commissioners expressed concerns about the site and opted to give more time for the developer and the city of Huntington Beach to study the risks in the area further.
Once sea levels begin to rise, the site and the surrounding homes will be at heightened risk of flooding during a heavy rainstorm, the commission’s staff warned.
“The impacts of climate change are just as critical if not more than trying to address housing in our housing crisis,” Commissioner Justin Cummings said. “The last thing we want to do is put people in harm’s way.”
Shopoff Realty Investments bought the Magnolia Tank Farm site in 2016. It is next to the Ascon toxic dump, a superfund site being remediated, and an existing residential neighborhood.
The development plan has garnered wide support from state representatives, local labor unions and business groups who saw the project as supplying new jobs and needed housing. Dozens of union workers showed up to the Newport City Council chambers to urge the commissioners to pass the zoning change.
Huntington Beach approved rezoning the area in 2021, but the Coastal Commission has the final say on making zoning changes a reality.
Ursula Luna-Reynosa, Huntington Beach’s community development director, tried to quell the commission’s concerns that the developer wouldn’t follow through on community benefits it is promising at the site, such as funding for city libraries and making 20% of the homes affordable.
She said the city would bring in more stakeholders like the Orange County Flood Control to help with planning.
“We can find solutions to some of the problems that have been identified today,” Luna-Reynosa said. “I think we can create a win-win-win situation.”
