A solar energy proposal at the edge of the Los Cerritos Wetlands has divided the Seal Beach City Council — twice — and drawn sustained opposition from environmental groups who say the city is moving too fast on a project that sits adjacent to one of the most ecologically sensitive areas in Orange County.
The Project
Hellman Properties has proposed installing a 1.5 megawatt fixed-tilt, ground-mounted solar photovoltaic system at the Hellman Ranch Oil and Gas Production Facility in Seal Beach. The project calls for 56 solar tables arranged in three arrays on the Hellman property, which shares a boundary with the Los Cerritos Wetlands.
The Seal Beach Planning Commission approved the project in a 2-1 vote in September 2025. The Los Cerritos Wetlands Land Trust filed an appeal the following month.
Two Deadlocks and a Website Outage
When the appeal reached the City Council on December 8, 2025, the vote ended in a 2-2 tie, with District One Councilman Joe Kalmick abstaining. The hearing was continued.
By the time the item came back on February 9, 2026, Hellman Properties had indicated a willingness to scale down the project — removing approximately one-third of the solar tables, specifically the eastern array closest to the wetland vegetation and neighboring Heron Pointe residences.
Then the city's website went down.
On the Friday before the hearing, the city's website went offline. By Monday, the Wetlands Land Trust had received an email from the city informing them the hearing would be continued to prevent any question about whether the required 72-hour online public posting had been met. The council voted unanimously to push the item to February 23.
The Hearing
The February 23 meeting marked the third time the council considered the Hellman Ranch appeal. Environmental groups — particularly the Los Cerritos Wetlands Land Trust — have consistently called for a full Environmental Impact Report rather than the Initial Study/Mitigated Negative Declaration the city prepared. They argue the IS/MND does not adequately address the project's potential effects on the wetland ecosystem.
Proponents from Hellman Properties have emphasized that the solar installation would power the oil and gas facility's operations and provide grid benefits, framing it as a clean energy upgrade to an existing industrial site.
The outcome of the February 23 vote had not been published in official minutes at the time of this article. North OC Pulse will update this story when the council's decision is on the record.
Source materials: Seal Beach Sun News, Los Cerritos Wetlands Land Trust communications, Seal Beach City Council agenda documents.