Bixby Signs Option to Sell Los Cerritos Wetlands in Long Beach to California Coastal Conservancy.

SEAL BEACH, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--June 22, 1999--

Bixby Ranch Co. Tuesday announced that it had signed an option agreement with the California Coastal Conservancy for the sale of a 181-acre oil field property known as the Los Cerritos Wetlands in southeastern Long Beach.

The agreement provides the Conservancy with 18 months to secure funding for the purchase of the land. The signing of the option agreement is a major step toward the purchase of the Los Cerritos Wetlands by the public sector. The Conservancy voted in April to enter into the agreement to purchase the land from Seal Beach-based Bixby Ranch Co.

The restoration of the Los Cerritos Wetlands has been a common objective among Long Beach residents, city and state officials, and environmentalists since the late '70s. "The central issue behind the current Los Cerritos Wetlands debate has been whether wetland restoration in the oil field would be funded by private development or by the public purchase of the land," said Stewart Honeyman, senior vice president of Bixby Ranch Co.

"It has always been our view that both approaches were economically viable and resulted in wetlands being restored at the site. The Option Agreement provides the Conservancy with an opportunity to secure one of the last remaining historic remnants of coastal wetlands in Southern California and to create a significant wildlife and habitat corridor in a major urban setting without further development impacts."

While the Conservancy seeks public financing for the acquisition Bixby will continue with the processing of its recently submitted development plan to the City of Long Beach. Should the Conservancy be unable to secure funding, 104 acres of the land would be restored to wetlands through Bixby's development and restoration plan, in accordance with the Southeast Area Development Improvement Plan (SEADIP) of the City of Long Beach.