KOCE documentary details land struggle

Local PBS station KOCE started filming a short documentary news segment Monday on the controversy surrounding Banning Ranch.

Activists from the Save the Banning Ranch Task Force met to do interviews with the 400-acre parcel of undeveloped coastal land as the backdrop. The segment will likely air Friday evening as part of the Real Orange show at 6:30 p.m.

On Thursday, reporter David Nazar hopes to get the other side of the conflict when he interviews Mike Mohler, who represents the company that wants to develop the land into about 1,300 homes, a hotel and retail shops.

“This is a controversial subject. There are a lot of people for it and against it, so we’re going to try to present both sides,” Nazar said.

Among the 10 or so people at Monday’s interviews were Terry Welsh, the leader of the anti-development task force, and Chris Bunyan, a vocal anti-development activist who’s running for City Council in November. They were asked to answer questions on camera about their vision for the land — to make it into a nature preserve for the community.

The issue is being overshadowed by talk of building a toll road to the beach in North San Diego County, according to Bunyan, but once that is resolved, attention will shift to the Banning Ranch controversy.

“This is going to be the next big battle in the state of California,” he said.

At least two more segments are planned to be filmed before the show airs. One will be at an Orange County Coastal Coalition meeting at 9 a.m. Thursday at the Newport Beach Public Library where both sides will be given 15 minutes to make their case in front of city and county politicians and staff members.

ALAN BLANK may be reached at (714) 966-4623 or at alan.blank@latimes.com.