Second council member may rejoin Wetlands Authority

Last year, two Long Beach City Council members sat on the four-member Los Cerritos Wetlands Authority board. But that only lasted about two months until someone discovered a stipulation in the Authority's bylaws that says elected officials, appointed officials or employees of city governments can't represent the two non-government entities that make up half of the organization.

So, Councilman Patrick O'Donnell, then representing the Rivers and Mountains Conservancy, was out. Councilman Gary DeLong continued to represent the city of Long Beach on the Wetlands Authority's board. The other two entitities on the board are the city of Seal Beach and the State Coastal Conservancy.

Now, O'Donnell or any other elected official may soon be able to represent any of the agencies that oversee the Wetlands Authority, which is in the process of acquiring and restoring pieces of Los Cerritos Wetlands in southeast Long Beach and by Seal Beach.

Tonight, the council will consider approving this change to the Wetlands Authority's bylaws, which also has been approved by Seal Beach's city council and the Rivers and Mountains Conservancy. The Coastal Conservancy is expected to approve the change next month, which would make the bylaw revision official.

DeLong has asked the council to approve the change tonight, although O'Donnell wouldn't tell me yesterday whether he necessarily wants to return to the Wetlands Authority.

"Our goal is to potentially give Long Beach one more voice on the board, which would allow us to further advocate for the wetlands area and ultimately its restoration," O'Donnell said.

O'Donnell, long an environmental advocate, received some flack last week for joining the council in a 5-4 vote approving a deal to exchange Long Beach's public service yard for part of the wetlands. Environmentalists criticized the lack of a provision to ensure that the wetlands area is preserved and won't ever be sold off or developed by a greedy council. Under the wetlands plan, the Wetlands Authority will buy the property from the city and preserve it.

The Wetlands Authority's board won't have the power to pay more for the wetlands than the state is willing to fork over based on the land's appraised value, so having multiple Long Beach representatives on the board shouldn't influence the deal one way or the other.