Victory for Banning Ranch, a vital O.C. coastal wetland

Activists with signs pack a Newport Beach hearing room at a California Coastal Commission hearing. Credit: Madison Hickman

Hundreds of protesters squeezed into the Newport Beach Civic Center in early September to show the California Coastal Commission their bright green signs that read “Save Banning Ranch.”

After nearly two decades, Sierra Club activ- ists and others enjoyed a victory after the commission voted to deny a plan to build 895 homes on Banning Ranch, a swath of undeveloped coastal bluffs and wetlands near Newport Beach. As Steve Lopez wrote in the L.A. Times about the decision: “Bulldozers went up against burrowing owls .. [t]he owls won.”

It’s unknown what the developer’s plans will be, but Sierra Club now wants to work with partners and organizations which would act to buy the land and preserve all of it. Additionally, the Club will work against a separate proposal to drill 82 new oil wells on Banning Ranch.

Prior to the meeting, the Coastal Commission staff had recommended approval of development on 20 acres that aren’t identified as environmentally sensitive habitat area.

To get involved, contact Terry Welsh at (949) 478-1757 or email BanningRanch@ angeles.sierraclub.org.