Dana Point Headlands: The Good And The Bad

Dana Point Headlands photo by Bob Hansen

The Dana Point Headlands property was owned by the Chandler family (Los Angeles Times) for several years before the family sold the property to the present owner, Sanford Edward, a developer. The property consists of 121 acres of natural and rare vegetation, endangered species, and beautiful vistas overlooking the Pacific, located on the Dana Point Headlands. Edward proposed a Headlands Development and Conservation Plan which entailed building 118 3-4 million dollar homes, a 90 room hotel, 35,000 square feet commercial center, and a 2,200 foot seawall.

The Sierra Club, the Surfrider Foundation, the Native Plant Society and other groups and individuals waged a four year campaign against the development plans on this last undeveloped and historic, land which is the home of two federal endangered species, and Environmentally Sensitive Habitat Area for native rare plants . The development plan violated many Coastal Act provisions such as the seawall, severe grading, Coastal Act provisions for coastal development, the dangers to endangered species such as the Coastal California gnat catcher and the Pacific pocket mouse and several endangered rare plants. Dispite strong recommendations from the Coastal Commission staff against the development, the Commission finally approved the project. Late in the campaign, the Sierra Club and the Surfrider Foundation opened a lawsuit against the development plan which was denied by an Orange County judge, and a preliminary injunction was dropped as construction on the site had already begun.

Edward called his project the Strand at Headlands and has sold, so he claims, 39 custom lots for $220,000,000. It will be a millionaire's paradise on the last coastal area in native habitat. Edward and the city of Dana Point have recently tried to limit access to the beaches, to which open access was originally promised. The Surfrider Foundation in particular has fought this limited access. So far a limited number of homes, eight to ten are under construction. It was most unfortunate that the environmental groups were not able to save the entire Dana Point Headlands, but to get Edward to sell would have taken an enourmous sum, maybe a half a billion dollars.

Now for the GOOD. Approximately half of the 121 acres has been preserved as open space in four different areas. The first area is the Preserve which includes 29.4 acres on the Dana Point itself are which was bought by the Center for Natural Lands Management(CNLM). There is a mile trail (one way) with five overlooks over the Pacific and the views along this trail are really magnificent. The Preserve is open from 7:00 am to sunset and there are strict rules to protect the area. Lee Ann Carranza, the CNLM Preserve Manager, is monitoring the area to insure that the Preserve is kept in its natural state.

The City of Dana Point has had built a small Nature Interpretive Center under Jeff Rosaler, to manage the Center and coordinate the activities of the Center, the City owned areas, the Preserve, and the adjacent Marine Protected Areas.

The rest of the protected areas are under the jurisdiction of the City of Dana Point.

These areas are the Harbor View Park with a short trail from which walkers can overlook the Dana Point Harbor. The second area under city control is the Hilltop Park from which there are great views of the natural growth in this area and from Cotton's Point in south San Clemente to Palos Verde over the Pacific to Catalina Island. The last open space is the South Strand Open Space on which there are native plants and a trail which overlooks the new and to be developed area for the 118 building sites for the palatial mansions to be built. There will be a total of 3 miles of trails on the 121 acres. The views are terrific, the chaparral is in pretty good shape and the trails have a barrier on each to remind visitors not to go into the native shrubs. The preserve is open daily from 7 a.m. to sunset. So if you are in South Orange County, drop by The Preserve and take a beautiful short walk.