State Panel Delays Action on Bolsa Chica Project : Development: In a surprise move, the firm said 62% of the condos would be affordable housing. A Huntington Beach councilman calls the proposal ‘just a sham.’

LOS ANGELES — The California Coastal Commission delayed action until July on a controversial condominium proposal in the Bolsa Chica area after the developer, in a surprise move, said the company would devote 62% of the units in the gated project to affordable housing.

Critics of the project told the commission that the developer, Seacliff Partners, could not be trusted to build and sustain affordable housing. Huntington Beach Councilman David Sullivan told the commission that he worries that the developer’s proposal “is just a sham.”

The project, Surfcrest North, would consist of six three-story condominium buildings totaling 252 units. They would be built near Pacific Coast Highway on bluffs overlooking Bolsa Chica, in an affluent, gated area near the Seacliff Country Club. As originally proposed, only 50 of the 252 units were to have been affordable for moderate-income families.

But Tom Zanic, an official of Seacliff Partners, told the commission meeting here Thursday that the developer would increase the total affordable units to 156.

Huntington Beach and Coastal Commission officials said they were stunned by Zanic’s unexpected proposal.

Coastal Commissioner Gary Giacomini quipped that the developer’s sudden offer was as unexpected as the surprise in the movie “The Crying Game.” But Giacomini, who lives in Marin County, said surprises are not a good way to consider development. “I don’t think that’s how we do planning,” he said.

Giacomini said the commission should delay action until the commission staff has time to study the affordable housing proposal. By a 7-3 vote, the overall commission agreed and delayed action until its July meeting in Huntington Beach.

Zanic made his offer to build more affordable units after the Coastal Commission staff recommended rejecting the developer’s original proposal. Staff members on Thursday told the commission that Surfcrest North should have 156, not just 50, affordable units. Comments from commission members Thursday morning indicated they were ready to support the staff recommendation and vote to reject Surfcrest North.

At that point Zanic said the developer would change the project and build 156 affordable units. He said the units would be affordable to a family whose income was less than 120% of the county’s median income of $57,400. That would mean the price of the 156 units would be affordable to a family whose total income did not exceed $69,000.

Zanic, in a later interview, said he could not immediately estimate what the actual cost of such units would be. But he stressed in the interview and in his statement to the commission that Surfcrest North would not be built any differently from the original proposal.

In testimony to the commission, critics of the project charged that the developer might not fulfill the affordable-housing pledge.

Former Huntington Beach Planning Commissioner Kirk Kirkland told the Coastal Commission that Seacliff Partners’ proposal for more affordable housing would “be a boon to our community.” But Huntington Beach Mayor Grace Winchell told the commission she was unimpressed with the developer’s offer.

“This is the same developer who didn’t want to make 20% of the units affordable,” Winchell said.

Winchell and the Amigos de Bolsa Chica appealed Surfcrest North to the Coastal Commission after the Huntington Beach City Council last year approved the project on a 5-2 vote.

The Amigos, an environmental group, charged that the project is too dense for the environmentally sensitive Bolsa Chica area. Officials of the Amigos said Thursday they will continue to oppose Surfcrest North despite the proposed change in affordable housing.