    [From the U.S. Government Printing Office, www.gpo.gov]

                                                  A Series of Articles Reprinted From The Los Angeles Times

                                                        The Cal~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Ifri

     FEB 2t

      US  DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE NOAA
     COASTAL SERVICES CENTER
      2234 SOUTH HOBSON AVENUE
      CHARLESTON, SC 29405-2413.

          HT
        -~393           -
          X 3
          073

    REPRINTED FROM THE LOS ANGELES TIMES, SUNDAY, MAY 10, 1981                              coqWa 1901 LO Angda T.iMs

    Turning point

    Coast Panel: What It Did and Didn't

    BY RICHARD O'REILLY
    rMes Staff Write,

      The 1,100-mile coastline of California is a spectacle  commission has tried to change this. And because the
    of soaring cliffs, teeming wetlands and-particularly     commission has no power to order changes in existing
    in the Southland-mile after mile of dazzling beach.      land use no matter how noble the motive, a Pacific
      There has always been disagreement over who con-       Gas & Electric Co. power plant will continue to loom
    trols it. The Spaniards took it away from the Indians;    over Morro Rock.
    the Mexicans took it away from the Spaniards; the          The commission cannot own land, nor can it spend
    United States took it away from the Mexicans.            money to fix the mistakes made by city councils and
      And in 1972 the voters took control of the coast      county boards of supervisors. Nor can it force any
    away from the cities and counties and gave it to the     person or company or governmental agency to spend
    California Coastal Commission.                           any money. It cannot tell a property owner to do
      The commission has done exactly what it was creat-    anything unless that person seeks to change what he
    ed to do-plan and regulate. It has, in fact, planned    is already doing with his land. Then the commission
    the future of almost every parcel of land along the      has the power to say exactly what can be done,
    coast and it has regulated down to the color of paint    backed by a 202-page law and a series of favorable
    on a single house and the amount a hotel can charge      court decisions.
    for a weekend room.                                        The applicant's only choice is to comply or to aban-
      Now, nine years after its creation, the commission    don the project. Or file a lawsuit, a procedure that so
    is reaching a major turning point: It is handing back    far has served mostly to enhance the commission's
    to local communities most of the authority to regulate    position.
    coastal development.                                       The one constant throughout the commission's ten-
      In those nine years, here is what the commission      ure has been controversy. Depending on who is
    has accomplished:                                        asked, the commission has done far too much or far
      There has been no new subdividing of coastal    too little.
    farmlands in rural areas; virtually no marshlands have     Ellen Stern Harris, one of the leaders of the 1972
    been filled or diked for development, even in the        Proposition 20 campaign and the commission's vice
    midst of cities; California 1 has been preserved as a    chairman during its first four years, thinks it has been
    scenic, winding two-lane road; far fewer high-rise       a dismal failure.
    buildings are being allowed along the beaches; no          "As I drive in the urban areas of Southern Califor-
    new power plant sites threaten scenic spots, and no      nia," Harris said, "I see that it created a wall of af-
    new locked-gate residential developments have been       fluent homes and squeezed out the poor it was meant
    built at the shore.                                      to rescue and made access even more difficult."
      The commission has also created a sweeping beach         She blames that on the power of developers and
    access program that over the years will open dozens      other special interests to get what they want through
    of miles of sand and rock outcroppings to the public.    political campaign contributions, the commission not-
    It is making it possible for persons with low and        withstanding.
    moderate incomes to live near the ocean, especially in     Gerald Gray is chairman of the California Coastal
    Southern California. And so far, although its authority    Council, a group dedicated to abolishing the commis-
    to veto offshore oil exploration is being challenged by  sion. He thinks that land-use regulation belongs to
    the Reagan Administration, it has prevented drilling    local government and that efforts by the Coastal
    in areas of the ocean where there is serious threat of    Commission to work with local authorities in coastal
    ecological damage.                                       planning have been "a sham." The plans have all
      But the commission has also made it much more         been dictated by the commission and ignore what is
    expensive for individual homeowners to live near the    at stake for local communities, Gray says.
    coast or to remodel or rebuild their homes to suit
    their own tastes.
      And the commission has not corrected what en-
    vironmentalists would view as the wrongs of the past.
    The beach along the Marina del Rey peninsula, for                  These  articles  may  not  be
    example, is still largely inaccessible, although the               reprinted  without  the
                                                        1           written permission of the
                                                                    Los Angeles Times.

      Yet Gray, a Cambria builder and Realtor, personally      of large landowners, labor unions and environmental
    has learned how to deal successfully with the com-         representatives, does not want to abolish the commis-
    mission. He has received about 100 coastal develop-        sion, however.
    ment permits for his own and clients' projects and has       "We all have an interest in a well-planned Califor-
    been denied by the commission only three times. In         nia coastline that includes some development with a
    two of the denials he was able to change his plans         lot of open space," Peevey said. He explained that, al-
    and later obtain permits.                                  though his group thinks the commission has been
      Much of the criticism of the commission comes            overzealous in many ways, big business can learn to
    from the cities and counties that lost the power to de-    live with the rules and does.
    cide what would be built in their coastal zones. But         "It's that little guy who feels he's been screwed
    Russell Selix, attorney for the League of California       and, by God, he has been screwed," Peevey said.
    Cities, agreed that much of the commission's work            It is hard to imagine any plight worse than that of
    has been beneficial. Particularly on the issue of local    Viktoria Consiglio, a Seaside bookkeeper, and her
    coastal planning, Selix said, "We concede that local       husband, a Civil Service pipefitter.
    agencies, for the most part, would not have adopted          In 1976, Viktoria Consiglio, a German immigrant,
    them if there had not been a Coastal Commission to         used her inheritance to make a substantial down pay-
    push them along."                                          ment on a two-acre saddle of land next to California 1
      And Selix went on to say there is a "general feeling     on the Big Sur coast. The purchase price was $67,000.
    that the coastal planning the coastal cities have done       She was cautious. Before the purchase was conclud-
    is clearly better than it otherwise would have been."      ed, her lawyer wrote to the Central Coast Regional
      Nevertheless, the league is sponsoring legislation       Coastal Commission, one of the six regional commis-
    this year to trim the commission's wings a bit.            sions with primary responsibility for issuing coastal
      Big business and labor are two other groups strong-      permits, to ask what restrictions there would be on
    ly affected by the commission's decisions. Jobs and        use of the land.
    profits are lost every time the commission says "no"         The answer covered half a dozen general topics of
    or every time it says "build smaller," which it often      concern, but nowhere did it explicitly state what
    does.                                                      would become the central restriction-that no permit
      Michael Peevey, president of the California Council      would be issued for any house that could readily be
    for Economic and Environmental Balance, an amalgam         seen from the highway.

    Waves break on rocks off Sonoma County shore. Majestic stretches such as this one have been protect-
    ed by California Coastal Commission.                                                         Times photo by Con Keyes

                                                          2

       Viktoria Consiglio bought the property, and the    pany among those who consider the permit require-
    commission denied her a permit to build a house of    ment onerous. Yet the commission, which relies on
    about 1,000 square feet-something she and her hus-      Brown to veto the most damaging bills passed by a
    band thought they could do using the equity in their    Legislature in which the commission has fewer and
    Seaside home and a simple design.                       fewer supporters, refused to make an exception even
      The regional commission, and later the state corn-    for the governor's friends.
    mission, concluded that there was no way that her          California is not the only state to create an agency
    house could be hidden from view.                        to regulate its shore. In 1972, when Californians ap-
      It made no difference that immediately to the south    proved Proposition 20 and created the Coastal Com-
    a large house sat on the ridgeline and that across a    mission, federal legislation was passed to require si-
    small cove to the north were three more houses. They    milar controls in all states with ocean or Great Lakes
    all were relics of the pre-commission era. The rules    coastlines. So far, 25 have complied.
    had changed.                                               Nor is California's coastal zone the broadest. In
      And it made no difference that Consiglio's neighbor    Delaware the entire state is the coastal zone, and Ore-
    was allowed to build. His property rounds the point    gon's zone is 40 miles wide in places. In California,
    behind hers. His house could be on the oceanfront,    the coastal zone ranges from several hundred feet to
    invisible from the highway. All that shows is the    five miles wide, and contains 1.3 million acres al-
    paved driveway leading across the same saddle of    together.
    land Consiglio could not build upon: a very naked,         But California's coastal regulations are the most
    visible driveway leading to an invisible house.         comprehensive, restrictive, ambitious and controver-
      Consiglio sued but since has abandoned her legal    sial in the nation.
    fight. Despite the severe restrictions, her property       The commission was created as an independent,
    gained in value and she has granted an option to a    non-political agency with sweeping powers, and it
    Palo Alto attorney for "much more" than she paid for    has exercised both its independence and its powers to
    it.                                                     the fullest.
      The commission  has been equally harsh with the         In its early years, the commission put up barriers to
    rich and famous. Allen Funt, host of the television    just about any kind of building activity while it
    program "Candid Camera," was denied a permit to    worked on a statewide plan to define coastal uses.
    build his personal home and a guest house on the    People who wanted to make the tiniest alteration to
    rolling slopes of his 1,200-acre Big Sur ranch. His    their beach cottages went through the same procedure
    property has been photographed thousands of times       used to stave off a major subdivision.
    as one of the classic views of the coastline in a scene    Although procedures later were changed to make it
    that includes one of California l's famous high-arch    almost easy for homeowners to remodel or even to
    bridges.                                                 build new homes, the commission was forever tar-
      The commission objected because the two houses        nished with an image of being most restrictive where
    would have increased the historical number of res-    it mattered least.
    idences on the property and because the top of the         The coastal plan was completed on schedule in 1975
    guest house, which would have resembled a light-    and was turned over to the Legislature for final ac-
    house, would be visible from a portion of Highway 1.    tion. Out of that process emerged the 1976 Coastal
      Even Gov. Edmund G. Brown Jr. has had difficulties    Act, barely approved by a reluctant Legislature and
    with the Coastal Commission. In 1978, he attempted    containing many but not all of the provisions of the
    to intervene on behalf of his then-girlfriend, pop      original plan.
    singer Linda Ronstadt, according to Michael Fischer,       The Coastal Act replaced Proposition 20. A reconsti-
    the state commission's executive director. At the time,    tuted Coastal Commission, the creation of the Coastal
    Ronstadt and 31 of her Malibu Colony neighbors were     Act, was seated.
    threatened by high storm tides. Brown asked Fischer        Now the commission's charge was different: to help
    how they could build a sea wall without going           cities and counties adopt local coastal programs that
    through the hassle of getting a coastal permit, Fischer    complied with the protectionist policies of the act so
    recalls.                                                 they could regain authority over their coastal zones.
      Fischer said he told Brown that there was no way      Meanwhile, restrictions on what individual home-
    to do that. Brown then told Fischer that he had told    owners could do were relaxed and, in some places, re-
    Ronstadt to go ahead and build it without a permit,      moved.
    Fischer said he told the governor that if she did, the     The deadline for completing the local coastal pro-
    commission would sue her for violating the law.          grams and giving control back to local government is
      Ronstadt and the others did build the sea wall, and   July 1. It will not be met. Fewer than one-fourth of
    the commission did sue. She since has sold the house,    the cities and counties have completed their share of
    and the commission suit is languishing in the courts.    the task, and the commission has refused to accept
    (Brown's office has had no comment on the matter.)      some of the plans that have been finished, saying
      What Ronstadt and her neighbors avoided by not        they do not sufficiently protect coastal resources.
    seeking a permit was the probable demand by the
    commission that they open their private beaches to
    public access.
      The incident is instructive. Brown has a lot of com-
                                                         3

      Meanwhile, by law, the regional commissions will    too much of an apple-pie-and-motherhood Issue to
    go out of existence June 30 That means that their    do that So the council Is limitig itself to seeking leg-
    workloads of pernuts to process will be shifted to the    islaton returning permit power to local governments
    state commission, which was supposed to become a    that promise to uphold the principles of the Coastal
    sort of overseer to local government after July 1      Act, leaving the commission m an appeal role only
      It is a serious dilemma for both governments and       Next year they hope to abolish the commisslon al-
    landowners The solutions being considered by the    together, they said, while still requmng local govern-
    Legislature range from outright abolishment of the    ments to follow the preservation policies of the Coast-
    whole program to giving the cities and counties limit-    al Act
    ed permit authority pending completion of their           Gughemeth said that so much more land has passed
    coastal programs                                       into public ownership since the Coastal Commission
      The League of Californa Cities' Sehx says "There    came into being that its job is no longer necessary-
    are a large number of legislators ready to get nd of    there is too httle undeveloped private land left along
    the commission completely and a shnnking number    the coast to worry about, m his view
    of supporters, while there is a growing number who        The commission does not have a complete mvento-
    are becoming more skeptical"                           ry of coastline ownership, but according to its best
      Not only has the commission made enemies among    available figures, about 243 rules of shore were pub-
    influential coastal property owners by crcumscnbming    licly owned for recreation m  1973, whereas now,
    or denying their proposed developments, but local    about 447 miles of pubhc recreation land are held by
    governments also remam miffed at losng control of    cities, counties and the state and federal governments
    their coastlihnes and many would welcome the free-        In 1973, about 42%, or about 450 miles, of the coast
    dom they would have If the commission were abo-    were owned by local, state and federal governments,
    lished                                                 mcludmg the mihtary The latest estimate is that 49%
      Even some of the commission's former friends have    now is publicly held
    turned critical The original commission chairman,         The coastal plan drafted by the original commission
    Mel Lane, for example, has lent his support to a lob-    listed pnonhtes for government purchase of more than
    bying organization known as the Alhance of Coastal    400,000 acres of privately owned coastal zone proper-
    Management Partly funded by large coastal landown-    ty So far, more than 15,400 acres have been pur-
    ers, it is critical of the commisslon's poor relations    chased from the list, plus another 4,600 acres not ong-
    with local governments, according to its chairman,    mally recommended
    Charles Warren He is a former state assemblyman           The commission does still have friends m  Sa-
    noted for his pro-environment stance                   cramento and elsewhere The Sierra Club's support is
      The alhlance blames some of the problem on the    as strong as ever, as Is that of a number of coastal-or-
    commlsslon's legal authority to require affordable    iented environmental groups up and down the state
    housing along the coast, and it is supporting leglsla-   John Zierold, the Sierra Club's chief Sacramento
    tion to shift that responsibility to other agencies of    lobbyist, said, "Our view Is that the Coastal Act is not
    state or local government, Warren said                 a perfect act Obviously it requires some curative
      The alliance's other spokesman is Norbert Dall, a    measures from tbme to time
    former Sierra Club lobbyist He fears that If nothing is   "The problem is that too many of the so-called cur-
    done to ease the tension between the commission and    ative measures have been more kill than cure "
    local government during this legislative session, the     Zlerold Is optimistic that there won't be any drastic
    commission eventually will be scuttled                 changes m the act this year, despite changes mi the
      He said more bills to change or abolish the powers    leadership of both the Senate and Assembly He said
    of the commission have been mintroduced m this ses-    conversations with Assembly Speaker Willie Brown
    sion than ever before He also estimated that a clear    (D-San Francisco) and Senate Presldent Pro Tem Da-
    majonty of the members of both the Assembly and    vid Robert  (D-Los Angeles) have assured huim that
    the Senate would vote to kill the commission If they    neither man wants to see the commission "wiped
    got the chance to do so Thus, the commission's fate    out "
    rests upon the skill of the legislatihve leadership to   There is agreement by friends, foes and commis-
    keep such bills from coming to a floor vote            sioners alike that some changes are needed, if only to
      The commssion's most strident and successful cnhc    allow the state commission to better cope with the m-
    is the Coastal Council Whiule Gerald Gray chairs the    creased workload after the regionals go out of exis-
    network of coastal property owners and others with a    tence The solution will minevtably involve givmg
    vested interest m coastal development, the organza-    back some authority to local governments, even
    tion's chief spokesman is its president, Joseph Gughe-    though they have not fiushed their requuired plan-
    metti, a Bay Area attorney                             rung
      The council has observers at every state and region-
    al commission meeting and leaps at every opportunuty
    to complain about what it sees as unfair decisions It
    has been particularly successful in spreading Its mes-
    sage through local newspapers
      Neither Gughemetth nor Gray expects to abohsh the
    commiussion ths year They recognize that It still is
                                                        4

      According to Fischer, about 25 of the 69 local coastal    The pioneering effort to do that has been in the
    jurisdictions are expected to submit completed land       Santa Monica Mountains, where thousands of tiny
    use plans by the July 1 deadline. But the others are      lots in the coastal zone would pose a number of prob-
    months or, in the case of the city of Los Angeles and     lems if residential construction was allowed.
    Los Angeles County, years away from compliance.              The controversy surrounding the commission these
      If the commission has suffered in the council           days is much like the ones that have swirled about
    chambers and legislative committee rooms throughout       earlier conflicts over land use. It is the problem of
    the state, it has fared much better in the courtroomso    balancing the individual landowner's rights with the
      It has yet to lose a significant lawsuit. The most re-  interests of the larger society.
    cent victory was in UeS. District Court in San Francis-      The state and regional commissions are supposed to
    co, where a three-judge panel ruled that the commis-      exercise their judgments based on the larger society's
    sion has the power, and the obligation, to require        interest in the coast. The difficulty these last four
    public beach access and the preservation of scenic        years has been in getting local governments to do the
    views and other coastal resources as a condition for      same in drafting their plans.
    granting a permit.                                           As one planner for Santa Cruz County explained,
      That case, involving Sea Ranch, a Northern Califor-     "It puts local jurisdictions into the position of balanc-
    nia residential development, will have wide impact        ing statewide and local interests where the consti-
    up and down the state.                                    tuency is only those with local interests."
      But storm clouds loom on the legal horizon, accord-       Lenard Grote, chairman of the state commission,
    ing to attorneys who represent public agencies. A re-     doesn't find it surprising that local officials are un-
    cent U.S. Supreme Court decision indicated that it has    happy.
    a five-member majority that believes that govern-            "The kind of coordination we're asking 69 local
    mental agencies can be liable for damages if they so      governments to do up and down the coast is the kind
    restrict land use that an owner can no longer develop     of coordination and planning cities and counties
    his property.                                             haven't done any place," he said.
      Present California court rulings allow for overturn-      To make their task more palatable, the commission
    ing such restrictions if they are found excessive, but     has given local jurisdictions $9 million over the last
    the rulings do not provide for compensation.              five years to help pay their added planning costs.
      So far, the commission restrictions have never been       The money came out of the about $58 million the
    found to constitute the taking of private property        commission has received in state and federal funds
    without just compensation-something that is prohi-        since 1973 to pay its operating costs as well as to pass
    bited by the Constitution. But one reason is that its    along as planning grants to cities and counties. By
    actions are viewed as temporary, lasting only until the   comparison, Los Angeles County has budgeted nearly
    local coastal programs are adopted as the final, per-     $39 million during the same period to operate its re-
    manent lard-use rules, the attorneys explained.           gional planning department.
      Thus the commissions have been advised by their
    lawyers against adopting local coastal programs that
    prevent property owners from making any use of
    their land. One way to do that in areas where build�
    ing is unwanted is to give owners "development cre-
    dits" that they can sell to others to allow extra build-
    ing in other areas that can better accommodate it.

    With State and Regional Levels,

    Commission is an Agency

    of Many Parts and People

       The 1976 Coastal Act sets a pnonty on use of coast-   far, about 50,000 permits have been processed and
    al property, and at the bottom of the list Is the use m  about 95% of them granted But about half the appro-
    greatest demand, smngle-family housing                   vals were conditional, requirmg the applicant to
       "That Is the most selfish, most exclusive use of the    change his plans to some extent Conditons can range
    coast," said Mlchael Fischer, executive director of the    from a requirement for beach access to a drastic re-
    state Coastal Commission                                 duction in the size of a proposed development or a
       The act attempts to balance development of coastal   basic change in the kind of use Many commission
    property and resources against preservation of the    cnritics charge that the conditions often are so sweep-
    coast m  its natural state Thus some areas, such as    ing that the approval really amounts to a denial
    wetlands and places of exceptional scenic beauty, are      There are other things the commission does It
    generally off limts to development                       funds an oil tanker simulator that teaches tanker offi-
       Elsewhere, development is to be concentrated in    cers how to safely load and unload petroleum It gives
    and around already developed areas to preserve coast-    design awards for buildings that particularly enhance
    al agricultural lands In areas where development is   their settings It reviews plans for the state's four ma-
    allowed, pnontles are established Public recreation    jor seaports And It conducts studies of such problems
    fachhtes, mcludming private commercial development    as the future of commercial fishing, the viability of
    such as hotels, motels and campgrounds, get high pn-    coastal agriculture and the traffic capacity of Calhfor-
    ornty, as do industrial usages that depend on the    nia
    ocean The latter include ports, commercial fishing fa-     The commission also is the only state agency with
    clihtes and power plants that require ocean water for   the power to veto federal proposals within the coastal
    coohng                                                   zone and the only agency with a voice in offshore oil
      An m-between category Is established for coast-re-    dnlhng beyond the three-mile lumit of state junsdic-
    lated uses-anything from surfer shops to yachting    tion If a planned well, either exploratory or produc-
    supply stores to oceanside restaurants                   tion, threatens coastal resources, the commisson has
      Finally, where residential use is allowed, an effort is   the power to say it cannot be drilled
    made to preserve existing lower-priced housing and         That power, however, Is being challenged by the
    to require new low-priced housing Without that pro-    Reagan Adminimustration, which has announced plans
    viso, only the rich could buy coastal property, espe-    to expand and accelerate drillng off the California
    caally m Southern Cahfornia Even so, the interests of   coast
    middle-income people are left unprotected, and they        The California Coastal Commission, usually referred
    have been pnced out of the coastal zone                  to m the singular, is far from a monolith
      The protection and upgrading of boating facilities is    It is six regional commissions plus a state commis-
    another objective of the act, and since 1973 the com-    sion, on which a total of 309 people have served since
    rmssion has approved 11,253 new boat slips m  the    the state panel began operating m 1973
    Southern Callfornia counties of Ventura, Los Angeles,       People avowedly opposed to the very concept of
    Orange and San Diego Additional space has been de-    the Coastal Commission have served along with those
    slgnated for moonngs, and dry storage sites on land    to whom virtually any new development Is anathema
    have been permitted                                        At full strength, the commission has 76 state and
      Where uses conflict, the commission is supposed to    regional commissloners, half of whom are appointed
    pick the one that Is the most protective of coastal re-    m equal numbers by the governor, the Speaker of the
    sources                                                  Assembly and the Senate Rules Committee Usually
      The state and regional coastal commissions divide    those appointments have been balanced between pro-
    their timune between considenng requests for individual    development and pro-environment factions
    permits (the state commission hears only appeals)
    and revlewing local coastal programs to determine if
    they adhere to the act
      The permits draw the greatest public attention So
                                                       6

      The rest of the regional commissioners are local of-    property owners, for instance, are routinely required
    ficials appointed by local governments in a manner        to grant public access to beaches. In the drought-
    that gives every local government equal opportunity        prone central coast region, water conservation mea-
    to be represented.                                         sures are made a condition of virtually every permit.
      The rest of the 12 state commissioners are represen-       Critics charge that the commissions often impose
    tatives from each regional commission. Since local of-    such restrictive conditions that they have the effect of
    ficials tend to have less time to devote to commission    denying a permit, although commissions record the
    work, regional representatives often have been from        action as approval.
    the ranks of environmental activists. That has made          Michael Fischer, executive director of the commis-
    the state commission decidedly more environmentally        sion, denies that conditions are used to kill proposals.
    oriented than most of the regionals.                         "I've told staff if we want to deny it, deny it
      That composition will change July 1, when the re-       straight out," Fischer said. "We will not make denials
    gionals go out of existence. After that, half the state    under the guise of approvals."
    commissioners will be representatives of local govern-       He said the test is whether the applicant agrees to
    ment, a rule many feel will lead the state commission      accept the condition. If so, approval with the condi-
    to be less restrictive of development.                     tion is the staff recommendation. If not, the recom-
      The South Coast Regional Coastal Commission,            mendation is for denial, Fischer said.
    covering Los Angeles and Orange counties, has faced          The exception is when the staff believes the appli-
    the greatest demand for development and has been           cant is bluffing when he says he will not accept the
    the most willing to give developers what they want.        condition.
      It also has had the greatest turnover-65 commis-           "If there is any hint that he's bluffing, we'll go ap-
    sioners have held its 12 seats thus far-and it is the      proval just to see," Fischer said.
    only commission touched by scandal.                          For their efforts, state and regional commissioners
      A Times investigation last year, later confirmed by     are paid $50 per day. State commissioners, in addition,
    a state-county task force under the direction of the at-   get up to $100 for preparation time for each day's ses-
    torney general, showed that four South Coast com-          sion, at a rate of $12.50 an hour. The state commission
    missioners, all local elected officials, received extensive  meets a total of five days a month in two bi-weekly
    campaign contributions from applicants for coastal         sessions.
    permits. A fifth commissioner raised campaign money          About half the state commissioners put in for the
    from applicants after voting on their projects.            full $150 a day, which gives them an income of $750 a
      At the time, what they did was not illegal. Only        month. The others itemize preparation time and put
    one of the five remains on the regional commission,        in for less than the allowable eight-hour-per-meeting
    Harriet Wieder, an Orange County supervisor.               maximum. Most of the meetings are long and lunch
      To prevent recurrences of the controversy, the state    breaks are short or nonexistent.
    commission quickly adopted the strongest conflict-of-        The state commission is one of the few governmen-
    interest rule in state government, making commis-          tal bodies that often lives on sandwiches while it con-
    sioners who vote on a campaign contributor's permit        tinues to meet through the lunch hour.
    subject to civil and criminal penalties.                     Most state commissioners clearly spend considerable
      The state commission exercises control over the re-     time reading the thick bundles of staff reports mailed
    gionals in several ways. It hears appeals of regional      before every meeting. For instance, Vice Chairman
    decisions and makes its own rulings; it issues policy      Naomi Schwartz of Santa Barbara typically devotes
    guidelines and is the final arbiter on whether a local     the Sunday before a session to preparation.
    coastal program prepared by a local jurisdiction is in       There are about 250 staff members serving the state
    compliance with Coastal Act policies.                      and regional commissions, all under the overall direc-
      Any regional decision can be appealed, but the state    tion of Fischer, himself hired by the state commission.
    commission decides which to accept for full hearing,         Each regional commission employs its own execu-
    based on whether an issue of statewide significance is    tive director who supervises the regional staff, a sys-
    involved. For instance, in 1979 and 1980, only about       tem that has led to some difficulties in determining
    8% of the permit decisions made by regional commis-       just who the boss is.
    sions were appealed. The state board held hearings on        Actions by the staff have engendered complaints
    60% of those, leaving regional decisions untouched in      that some staffers are openly contemptuous of appli-
    the other appeals.                                         cants and have a self-righteous attitude toward coastal
      The state commission cannot force the regional          protection.
    commissions to follow its lead, but the appeals proce-       Fisher said that in his three years as director he has
    dure keeps the regionals from straying too far from        made a number of staff changes to try to improve re-
    the state commission's policy interpretations. That has    lations with the public. He said he does not want the
    not kept them from criticizing the state body, howev-      staff to relax its commitment, but wants to encourage
    er. The South Coast and San Diego regional commis-         "human ability to empathize with the permit seeker
    sions, for instance, have been quite critical of the       and the local planner ... and to allow a flexible ap-
    state's policy requiring affordable housing.               proach."
      The way state and regional commissions force ap-
    plicants to comply with the Coastal Act is by ap-
    plying conditions to permit approvals. Oceanfront
                                                          7

      But he added, "We have people coming before us            For these people, the commission is the court of last
    who are going to try to get away with things, to mess     resort on land use.
    up the coast. We've got to regulate."                       Everyone has a chance to be heard, if only for a
      The staff has its supporters, both among applicants     few minutes.
    and local government planners.                              The state and regional commissions set aside time at
      One applicant's representative said he believed it    every meeting to hear people who have no com-
    was the staff's role to take the most stringent position  plaints about a specific permit but who want to talk
    against new development that could be supported by        about some coastal issue.
    the Coastal Act.                                            'The unfortunate fact is that the Coastal Commis-
      Then it is up to the applicant to show commission-      sion is often the only place that local people can go
    ers how his proposal would serve the act's require-       for redress of issues that affect land use," according to
    ments and offer the reasoning commissioners need to       Peter Douglas, deputy director of the state commission
    vote against the staff recommendation.                    and co-author of Proposition 20. "Oftentimes local
      Other forces opposing applicants are public objec-      government is the co-culprit. Many times it will duck
    ters, be they representatives of civic or environmental   the issue knowing that the Coastal Commission will
    organizations or neighbors.                               make it right."
                                                                                         -RICHARD O'REILLY

    REPRINTED FROM THE LOS ANGELES TIMES, MONDAY, MAY 11, 1981                               CopytM 1981 Los Anges mss

    Needs on both sides

    Coast Panel's OK a Matter

    of Public, Private Benefit

    BY RICHARD O'REILLY
    Times Staff Writer

                                     _ _ I                 I            II                                      _ I  I
      The most perplexing thing about the California            Development is what the commission is all about. It
    Coastal Commission is why it allows one person to    has virtually no power to force a landowner to do
    build and refuses another.                                anything with coastal zone property until the land-
      There is a man who spent a year and a half puz-         owner wants to change its existing use. Then the
    zling over that very question and believes he found       commission has total power.
    that answer-that the public must benefit as well as         Just about anything a landowner can imagine doing
    the landowner when scarce coastal property is devel-    to, or on, or with, a chunk of coastal real estate is call-
    oped.                                                     ed "development" in the 1976 Coastal Act, and re-
      "I learned that unless you could walk in there and      quies a permit from the commission.
    demonstrate that the public got a fair shake, you           On paper, the process is simple. But in practice, it is
    wouldn't walk out of there with an approval," said    often complex and lengthy.
    Ronnie Rogers, a land planner in Orange County.             First, the staff of the appropriate regional commis-
       Indeed, what he walked out with was a permit for    sion studies the proposal. The staff then makes re-
    the single largest coastal development the commission     commendations to the commissioners based on
     has allowed. His success is especially impressive be-     whether, in the staff's opinion, the proposal complies
     cause the company that got the permit had been the        with the act's policies.
     commission's archest of enemies.
       The company, Avco Community Developers, had
     spent three years and thousands of dollars in a futile
     court fight to win the right to build without a coastal
     permit.
                                                          8

      If the proposal doesn't comply, the staff will recom-  state commission: "If you don't pick nits, you're going
    mend conditional approval-requiring changes to           to have lice."
    bring the project into compliance-or outright denial.      Soon after Proposition 20 took effect at the begin-
      Usually the commission adopts the staff position.      ning of 1973, bulldozers working for Avco Communi-
      If the applicant does not like the outcome, he can     ty Developers were growling back and forth over 582
    appeal to the state Coastal Commission, where the        acres of coastal hillsides in Orange County's Laguna
    whole process starts over. And anyone-a neighbor,or      Niguel area. It was a 24-hour-a-day marathon aimed
    an environmentalist-who unsuccessfully opposed the       at scraping away of 8 million cubic yards of soil to
    applicant's project at the regional level can appeal to  prepare for the construction of 8,000 dwellings.
    the state.                                                 Five- and six-story apartment buildings were going
      There really is no such thing as a typical permit      to be placed between Pacific Coast Highway and the
    application or typical commission decision, which is    ocean.
    why it is often hard to understand why the commis-         There was no question the development would not
    sion does what it does.                                  be permitted by the newly created California Coastal
      But a few examples of past applications to build       Zone Conservation Commission, predecessor to the
    along the coast illustrate the range of issues and con-  present commission.
    cerns that arise. None of these cases is routine, but      A court order stopped the grading about a third of
    none really involves exotic problems either. They are    the way through, and a legal standoff lasted for the
    in already developed areas, for instance, so preserva-   next three years until the U.S. Supreme Court refused
    tion of pristine shoreline is not an issue.              to review a California Supreme Court decision saying
      These are the kinds of situations in which critics of  Avco was wrong.
    the commission argue that its efforts, at best, will       Not long after that, Ronnie Rogers was hired. He
    have only a marginal impact in the end.                  spent the next 1 '  years attending every meeting of
      Replies Michael Fischer, executive director of the     the South Coast Regional Coastal Commission and the
                                                             state commission.
                                                               He was young and wore blue jeans and sports
                                                             shirts and mixed in nicely with the young staff mem-
                                                             bers of the two commissions, as well as mingling eas-
                                                             ily with the commissioners themselves.
                                                               "I became a Coastal Commission groupie," Rogers
                                                             says. "I wanted to know their priorities. I wanted to
                                                             know what they'll say 'yes' to and what they'll say
                                                             'no' to. I wanted to get to know them individually."
                                                               What he learned was that the project had to be re-
                                                             focused to serve public needs as well as those of pri-
                                                             vate home buyers. The Coastal Act gives priority to
                                                             so-called "visitor serving" uses over residential.
                                                               So, off the drawing boards went the high-rise
                                                             apartments and more than half of the dwellings and
                                                             on went a hotel and more moderately priced motels
                                                             and a larger public golf course and public parks.
                                                               "Avco just completely turned themselves inside out
                                                             to give the commission the project it wanted," Rogers
                                                             said. "It became a project that opened its arms to the
                                                             public and said, 'You're welcome.' "
                                                               Among the changes Rogers said he told the compa-
                                                             ny it would have to make was the gift of a 7.5-acre
                                                             public park along the shoreline. "In that location, that
                                                             was about a $16-million request," he said. There also
                                                             will be a 25.6-acre park inland, donated by the devel-
                                                             oper.
                                                               Avco's president, Barry McComic, said, "From the
                                                             company's point of view, it will be much less profita-
                                                             ble. However, from the point of view of the citizens
                                                             of the state of California, it is an infinitely better plan.
                                                      J' { I   "We would still expect it to be a highly profitable
      'I became a Coastal Commission groupie,' Ronnie        project" he added.
      Rogers says. Rogers, center, shares joke during
      break in recent commission meeting with M. J.
      Carpenter, left, executive director, South Coast
      Regional Coastal Commission, and Michael Fis-
      cher, Coastal Commission director.
                                        Times photo by Con Keyes
                                                          9

    Houses built together In Cambria, source of controversey among those concerned by coastal development
                                                                                               Los Angeles  s photo

      The difference Is that now there will be about 3,000    The basic process of beach building and destruction
    dwellings-not the ongminal 8,000-to sell at market    is well understood Sand Is carned into the ocean dur-
    rate, plus approximately another 900 at reduced prices    mg big floods, and ocean currents and wave patterns
    for people with low and moderate incomes                eventually distribute it along the coast Meanwhile,
      Avco's general plan was approved by the regional    high tides, particularly when accompanied by storm
    commission m 1979 with only a few minor condthons    waves, eat away the existmg beaches
    attached, to which the company readily agreed And         What is not so predictable is the timing and rate at
    when it was appealed by an opponent to the state    which these events will occur
    level, that commission ignored its staff recommenda-      An Army Corps of Engineers' report on the Oxnard
    tion to reopen the matter and let the regional decision    Shores area concluded that when the area was first
    stand                                                  developed m the mld-1950s, the beach was probably
      McComic is pleased with the outcome He readily    at its most seaward position m many years as a result
    admits that "m the first instance, we attempted to ig-    of sand finally reaching It from the 1938 floods
    nore the Coastal Commission, we attempted to get          Other studies differed on the present and projected
    around it in the best way that we could"                rate of erosion, saying that anywhere from 280 to 700
      But when that failed, "it was time for us to under-    feet of sand would be washed away m conung dec-
    stand what the Coastal Act was all about and what it   ades
    was trying to do"                                         All of that is of crucial importance to Ralph An-
      Today, McComic says, "As I stand back and look at    drews, a beachfront property owner and would-be
    this plan, I think it's an absolutely magmficent plan   developer, because it is the reason he has been unable
    The Coastal Commission did exactly what the people    to get a coastal development permit
    of California intended them to do when they passed        Andrews, a television game show producer who
    Proposition 20                                          created "Celebrity Sweepstakes" and "Liars Club,"
      "The people would not have wanted the kind of    owns a house on the beach at Oxnard The house Is
    project that we planned there in the first place"       adjacent to 10 acres of beach and low sand dunes he
      Meanwhile, Rogers has gone to work for another    owns in partnership with a television executive
    Orange County firm with a large amount of coastal         Andrews bought the property m 1976 for $400,000
    property it wants to develop, the Irvne Co              after the previous owner had failed to get Ventura
      About 100 miles north of the Avco property is an    County's approval to build 51 condominiums on It
    area called Oxnard Shores, a low stretch of beach at      Before Andrews bought the land, the owner had
    the north end of the city of Oxnard with spectacular    offered It to the city of Oxnard for half as much mon-
    views of Anacapa and Santa Cruz islands                ey as a public park The city had just received a feder-
      It also is an area that gets dramatic storm waves    al grant to pay for it when it learned of Andrew's
    and intermittent periods of major beach erosion and    purchase, according to the state Coastal Commission
    beach expansion, which have been the subjects of
    several conflictmg engineering studies
                                                        10

      But Andrews denies he bought it out from under    plan is now awaiting state Coastal Commission ap-
    the city. He said he checked with city officials and    proval.
    was told they had no plans to buy it.                      One of the grounds used by the state to deny An-
      What followed was a three-year fight with the city    drews the first time was that the Oxnard land-use
    to subdivide and zone the property for residential    plan had not yet been approved.
    construction, which Andrews won only after filing a        According to Carl Hetrick, executive director of the
    lawsuit.                                                 South Central Regional Coastal Commission, Andrews
      The next step was to seek a coastal permit. Taking    should have waited until the Oxnard plan was ap-
    note of the previous owner's problems, Andrews pro-    proved. If he had done that, he would have little dif-
    posed using two acres on the inland side for 14    ficulty getting a permit. Instead, he "has decided to
    houses and dedicating the seaward eight acres, which    forge ahead," Hetrick said.
    include the sand dunes, as open space with public ac-      Andrew admits he has been a bit heavy-handed in
    cess.                                                    his approach. The property is not fenced and tradi-
      To Andrews, it seemed an ideal plan. The public    tionally has been open to trespassers. But after the
    was getting a free park on most of the property in re-    state denial last summer, he hired armed guards to
    turn for allowing him to build on a small part of it.    patrol the site for two days, refusing to allow people
      Others saw it differently. His proposal was opposed    to set foot on it.
    by the staffs of both the regional and state commis-       "I'm doing this to show you what can happen,"
    sions and by neighbors whose ocean views would be    Andrews said he explained to his neighbors.
    blocked by the houses, as well as by others represent-     And recently, when he appeared before the region-
    ing civic groups.                                        al commission for the second time, Andrews told
      But the South Central Coast Regional Coastal Com-    them that if he is forced to sell the property because
    missioners liked Andrew's proposal and approved it   he can't get a permit, the new owner will be a devel-
    unanimously.                                             oper "whose business it is to squeeze every dollar out
      His opponents appealed to the state Coastal Com-    of a piece of property that he can. . . ."
    mission, which has the power to rule on decisions          His attitude is that, if he is going to get a permit la-
    made by the state's six regional commissions. The    ter, he would rather have it now.
    state commission took up the appeal last summer and,       "I just don't want to wait any longer," Andrews
    with some of the commissioners absent, Andrews lost   said. "I'm having financial problems."
    on a 4-4 vote. He was so enraged he suffered a heart       The issue the state Coastal Commission grappled
    spasm and collapsed. He spent three days in the hos-    with in the town of Cambria is altogether different.
    pital.                                                   The question was whether to squelch the potential for
      Now Andrews is making another run at it, seeking    massive development and how best to do it.
    a permit for the same project. Recently he again won       Situated on a series of wooded hills, grassy coastal
    unanimous approval from the regional commission,    terraces and small valleys, Cambria straddles state
    which his opponents promptly appealed to the state    Highway 1 for a couple of miles between Morro Bay
    commission again.                                        and San Simeon.
      He argues that storm waves do not threaten his $5-       The commission's attention was on an area known
    million project because the houses would be 400 feet   as Lodge Hill, actually an area of hills and valleys at
    inland from the high-tide line, with 14-foot-high    the south end of town containing one of only three
    sand dunes in between, and the houses would be    forests of Monterey pine in the state.
    built on pilings as added protection.                      Right now, Lodge Hill looks like a typical rural
      When he came before the state Coastal Commission    mixture of vacation cabins and year-round homes
    the second time, in mid-April, it looked like he would    spaced well apart on lots of an acre or more.
    win. Five commissioners seemed ready to vote against       But in reality the hillsides are a group of 25-by-70-
    hearing the appeal, meaning they were willing to let   foot lots that would transform the subdivision into
    the project go ahead. Since only nine of the 11 com-    something resembling an ant hill if they were all
    missioners then appointed were present, Andrews    built upon. There are about 900 vacant single lots in
    had a majority.                                          separate ownership and nearly 3,000 additional vacant
      But just before the vote, a 10th commissioner ar-    double lots.
    rived, Zad Leavy. And although Leavy abstained from        When the lots were created in the [920s and sold
    the vote, not having heard the testimony, his presence    for up to $100 each, they were for small vacation ca-
    raised the majority needed to six. Leavy would not    bins and the buyers were farmers and schoolteachers
    leave the room for the vote, so the 5-4 vote cast    and merchants from the San Joaquin Valley.
    against taking up the appeal was not enough to carry       Now a single lot goes for $9,000 to $20,000 and
    the motion. Almost by accident, the commission had    double lots average $25,000. The buyers are retired
    decided to consider an appeal of Andrew's project    professional people who can afford to build comforta-
    once more.                                               ble homes, and more than a few speculators. In a
      It is likely that Andrews will win the next vote,    quiet town of 3,000 residents there are 16 or 17 real
    however. The city of Oxnard has prepared a coastal    estate brokers and 10 builders.
    land use plan that depicts the part of the property
    Andrews wants to build on as being beyond the flood
    hazard zone and suitable for residential use. The city
                                                        11

      "People come here because it Isn't overdeveloped       Later, the state commission wrestled with the Issue
    and the first thing they do is overdevelop it," said 85-    It finally adopted a set of guidehnes that many find
    year-old Paul Squibb, a retired schoolmaster who is    less than satisfactory, but will at least prevent a pro-
    the town's unofficial histornan "If we don't watch     fusion of big homes on tiny lots
    out, we'll become another Long Beach"                    The guidehnes say that the owner of a single lot
      It wasn't always that way There was a time during    can build a home less than half as large as county
    the Depression, when the town bank failed, that a      zoning normally allows That means a two-story
    newspaper m Los Angeles gave away lots on Lodge        house of no more than 1,000 square feet, mincludmg
    Hill as inducements to subscribe, Squibb said          garage, if any, on a 25-foot-wide lot
      Septic tank failures seven or eight years ago led to a  "It's a very simple concept," said Carl Hetnck, ex-
    building moratonum on Lodge Hill, so the area sat    ecutive director of the South Central Coast Regional
    out the latest boom while development was concen-      Coastal Commission "If you have a very small lot,
    trated on nearby Park Hdll                             that entitles you to a very small house and if you
      There, many of the Monterey pines have been cut      want a very big house, you have to get a very big
    down and the houses have been jammed together lust    lot"
    hke a South Bay beach city Some are tastefully de-        But some think the commission went too far,
    signed to blend with the surroundmings while others    among them Gerald Gray, a Cambria Realtor and
    are of the cardboard carton school of architecture     builder He also Is chairman of the Calfornia Coastal
      "They look as if each new bulding was trying to    Council, a lobbying ground bent on abolishing the
    compete with the others to get a view," said Walt      commission
    Sterhng, a retired engineer who hves on Lodge IHll        Gray was a member of the committee that couldn't
    and does not want to see the same thmg happen to it    agree Although he concedes that the county zoning
      Last autumn, Lodge Hill's buldhng moratonum was      allows too large a house to be built, he thinks the
    lifted after a new sewage treatment plant was opened   commission's rule will lead to houses that are too
    under a coastal commission permit that allows 84 new   small
    connections a year to the system, up to a total of 2,     "We're going to see people buld little tacky boxes
    300                                                    with httle tacky boxes on top of them with mud
      The South Central Coast Regional Coastal Comnums-    driveways and cars parked mi the front yard," Gray
    sion was Immediately flooded with requests for per-    complained
    nuts to build on Lodge Hill, so it appomted a com-        Rephed Hetnck, "You don't have to build an ugly
    mittee of commissioners and Cambna residents, m-       square box to comply with the guidehnes If they're
    cluding Sterhng, to recommend what to do               ugly, it's because the people who designed them
      The idea was to come up with building guidelines     made them ugly There is nothing m the guidelines
    that would preserve as much of the forest as possible,    about ugly"
    as well as reduce the added erosion and loss of scenic
    beauty that would accompany heavy development
    But the committee could not agree on a plan

                                                        12

      If the proposal doesn't comply, the staff wll recom-  state commission "If you don't pick ruts, you're going
    mend conditlonal approval-requiring changes to          to have lice "
    bring the project into comphance-or outright derual        Soon after Proposltion 20 took effect at the begin-
      Usually the commission adopts the stiff posltion      ning of 1973, bulldozers working for Avco Commum-
      If the apphcant does not like the outcome, he can     ty Developers were growing back and forth over 582
    appeal to the state Coastal Commission, where the       acres of coastal hillsides in Orange County's Laguna
    whole process starts over And anyone-a neighbor,or      Nlguel area It was a 24-hour-a-day marathon aimed
    an environmentahst-who unsuccessfully opposed the       at scraping away of 8 million cubic yards of soil to
    applicant's project at the regional level can appeal to  prepare for the construction of 8,000 dwellings
    the state                                                  Five- and six-story apartment buildings were going
      There  really is no such thing as a typical permit    to be placed between Pacific Coast Highway and the
    application or typical commission decision, which is    ocean
    why It is often hard to understand why the commis-        There was no question the development would not
    sion does what it does                                  be permitted by the newly created Californla Coastal
      But a few examples of past applications to build      Zone Conservation Commission, predecessor to the
    along the coast illustrate the range of issues and con-  present commission
    cerns that arise None of these cases Is routine, but      A court order stopped the grading about a third of
    none really mivolves exotic problems either They are    the way through, and a legal standoff lasted for the
    m already developed areas, for instance, so preserva-   next three years until the U S Supreme Court refused
    tion of pristine shoreline is not an issue.             to review a Californa Supreme Court decislon saying
      These are the kands of situations m which crtics of   Avco was wrong
    the commission argue that Its efforts, at best, will       Not long after that, Ronnie Rogers was hired He
    have only a margial Impact m the end.                   spent the next 1 /2 years attending every meeting of
      Replies Michael Fischer, executive director of the    the South Coast Regional Coastal Commission and the
                                                            state commission
                                                              He was young and wore blue leans and sports
                                                            shurts and mixed m nicely with the young staff mem-
                                                            bers of the two commissions, as well as rmnghng eas-
                                                            ily with the comnussioners themselves
                                                              "I became a Coastal Commmssion groupie," Rogers
                                                            says "I wanted to know their pnonties I wanted to
                                                            know what they'll say 'yes' to and what they'll say
                                                            'no' to I wanted to get to know them individually"
                                                              What he learned was that the project had to be re-
                                                            focused to serve public needs as well as those of prn-
                                                            vate home buyers The Coastal Act gives priority to
                                                            so-called "visitor serving" uses over residential
                                                               So, off the drawing boards went the high-rise
                                                            apartments and more than half of the dwellings and
                                                            on went a hotel and more moderately priced motels
                                                            and a larger public golf course and public parks
                                                               "Avco just completely turned themselves inside out
                                        a                   to give the commission the project It wanted," Rogers
                                                            said "It became a project that opened its arms to the
                                                             public and said, 'You're welcome '"
                                                               Among the changes Rogers said he told the compa-
                                                            ny it would have to make was the gift of a 7 5-acre
                                                             public park along the shoreline "In that location, that
                                                            was about a $16-million request," he said There also
                                                             will be a 25 6-acre park inland, donated by the devel-
                                                             oper
                                                               Avco's president, Barry McComic, said, "From the
                                                             company's point of view, it will be much less profita-
                                                            ble However, from the point of view of the citizens
                                                            of the state of California, it is an infinitely better plan
                                                       _ _1  i  "We would still expect it to be a highly profitable
      'I became a Coastal Commission groupie,' Ronnie       project  he added
      Rogers says Rogers, center, shares joke during
      break In recent commission meeting with M J
      Carpenter, left, executive director, South Coast
      Regional Coastal Commission, and Michael Fis-
      cher, Coastal Commission director
                                       Times photo by Con Keyes
                                                          9

                           f                  -

    Houses built together In Cambria, source of controversey among those concerned by coastal development
                                                                                              Los Angeles Tbims photo

      The difference is that now there will be about 3,000    The basic process of beach building and destruction
    dwellings-not the ongmal 8,000-to sell at market    is well understood Sand is carned into the ocean dur-
    rate, plus approximately another 900 at reduced prices    mg big floods, and ocean currents and wave patterns
    for people with low and moderate incomes                eventually dlstribute it along the coast Meanwhile,
      Avco's general plan was approved by the regional    high tides, particularly when accompanied by storm
    commission m 1979 with only a few mmor conditions    waves, eat away the existing beaches
    attached, to which the company readily agreed And         What is not so predictable Is the tmung and rate at
    when it was appealed by an opponent to the state    which these events will occur
    level, that commission ignored its staff recommenda-      An Army Corps of Engmeers' report on the Oxnard
    hon to reopen the matter and let the regional decision    Shores area concluded that when the area was first
    stand                                                   developed in the mld-1950s, the beach was probably
      McComic is pleased with the outcome He readily    at its most seaward position m many years as a result
    admits that "in the first instance, we attempted to ig-    of sand finally reaching it from the 1938 floods
    nore the Coastal Commission, we attempted to get          Other studies differed on the present and projected
    around it in the best way that we could"                rate of erosion, saying that anywhere from 280 to 700
      But when that failed, "it was time for us to under-    feet of sand would be washed away in coming dec-
    stand what the Coastal Act was all about and what it   ades
    was trying to do "                                        All of that is of crucial importance to Ralph An-
      Today, McComic says, "As I stand back and look at    drews, a beachfront property owner and would-be
    this plan, I think it's an absolutely magnificent plan  developer, because it is the reason he has been unable
    The Coastal Commission did exactly what the people    to get a coastal development permit
    of Californla intended them to do when they passed        Andrews, a television game show producer who
    Proposition 20                                          created "Celebrity Sweepstakes" and "Liars Club,"
      "The people would not have wanted the kind of    owns a house on the beach at Oxnard The house is
    project that we planned there in the first place"       adjacent to 10 acres of beach and low sand dunes he
      Meanwhile, Rogers has gone to work for another    owns in partnership with a television executive
    Orange County firm with a large amount of coastal         Andrews bought the property m 1976 for $400,000
    property it wants to develop, the Irvine Co             after the previous owner had failed to get Ventura
      About 100 miles north of the Avco property is an    County's approval to build 51 condominiums on it
    area called Oxnard Shores, a low stretch of beach at      Before Andrews bought the land, the owner had
    the north end of the city of Oxnard with spectacular    offered it to the city of Oxnard for half as much mon-
    views of Anacapa and Santa Cruz islands                 ey as a public park The city had just received a feder-
      It also is an area that gets dramatic storm waves    al grant to pay for it when it learned of Andrew's
    and intermittent periods of major beach erosion and    purchase, according to the state Coastal Commission
    beach expansion, which have been the subjects of
    several conflicting engineering studies
                                                       10

      But Andrews denies he bought it out from under    plan is now awaiting state Coastal Commission ap-
    the city. He said he checked with city officials and    proval.
    was told they had no plans to buy it.                     One of the grounds used by the state to deny An-
      What followed was a three-year fight with the city    drews the first time was that the Oxnard land-use
    to subdivide and zone the property for residential    plan had not yet been approved.
    construction, which Andrews won only after filing a       According to Carl Hetrick, executive director of the
    lawsuit.                                                South Central Regional Coastal Commission, Andrews
      The next step was to seek a coastal permit. Taking    should have waited until the Oxnard plan was ap-
    note of the previous owner's problems, Andrews pro-    proved. If he had done that, he would have little dif-
    posed using two acres on the inland side for 14    ficulty getting a permit. Instead, he "has decided to
    houses and dedicating the seaward eight acres, which    forge ahead," Hetrick said.
    include the sand dunes, as open space with public ac-     Andrew admits he has been a bit heavy-handed in
    cess.                                                   his approach. The property is not fenced and tradi-
      To Andrews, it seemed an ideal plan. The public   tionally has been open to trespassers. But after the
    was getting a free park on most of the property in re-    state denial last summer, he hired armed guards to
    turn for 0allowing him to build on a small part of it.  patrol the site for two days, refusing to allow people
      Others saw it differently. His proposal was opposed    to set foot on it.
    by the staffs of both the regional and state commis-      "I'm doing this to show you what can happen,"
    sions and by neighbors whose ocean views would be    Andrews said he explained to his neighbors.
    blocked by the houses, as well as by others represent-    And recently, when he appeared before the region-
    ing civic groups.                                       al commission for the second time, Andrews told
      But the South Central Coast Regional Coastal Corn-    them that if he is forced to sell the property because
    missioners liked Andrew's proposal and approved it   he can't get a permit, the new owner will be a devel-
    unanimously.                                            oper "whose business it is to squeeze every dollar out
      His opponents appealed to the state Coastal Corn-    of a piece of property that he can. . .."
    mission, which has the power to rule on decisions         His attitude is that, if he is going to get a permit la-
    made by the state's six regional commissions. The    ter, he would rather have it now.
    state commission took up the appeal last summer and,      "I just don't want to wait any longer," Andrews
    with some of the commissioners absent, Andrews lost   said. "I'm having financial problems."
    on a 4-4 vote. He was so enraged he suffered a heart      The issue the state Coastal Commission grappled
    spasm and collapsed. He spent three days in the hos-    with in the town of Cambria is altogether different.
    pitalo                                                  The question was whether to squelch the potential for
      Now Andrews is making another run at it, seeking    massive development and how best to do it.
    a permit for the same project. Recently he again won      Situated on a series of wooded hills, grassy coastal
    unanimous approval from the regional commission,    terraces and small valleys, Cambria straddles state
    which his opponents promptly appealed to the state    Highway 1 for a couple of miles between Morro Bay
    commission again.                                      and San Simeon.
      He argues that storm waves do not threaten his $5-      The commission's attention was on an area known
    million project because the houses would be 400 feet   as Lodge Hill, actually an area of hills and valleys at
    inland from the high-tide line, with 14-foot-high    the south end of town containing one of only three
    sand dunes in between, and the houses would be    forests of Monterey pine in the state.
    built on pilings as added protection.                     Right now, Lodge Hill looks like a typical rural
      When he came before the state Coastal Commission    mixture of vacation cabins and year-round homes
    the second time, in mid-April, it looked like he would    spaced well apart on lots of an acre or more.
    win. Five commissioners seemed ready to vote against      But in reality the hillsides are a group of 25-by-70-
    hearing the appeal, meaning they were willing to let   foot lots that would transform the subdivision into
    the project go ahead. Since only nine of the 11 corn-    something resembling an ant hill if they were all
    missioners then appointed were present, Andrews    built upon. There are about 900 vacant single lots in
    had a majority.                                         separate ownership and nearly 3,000 additional vacant
      But just before the vote, a 10th commissioner ar-    double lots.
    rived, Zad Leavy. And although Leavy abstained from       When the lots were created in the 1920s and sold
    the vote, not having heard the testimony, his presence    for up to $100 each, they were for small vacation ca-
    raised the majority needed to six. Leavy would not    bins and the buyers were farmers and schoolteachers
    leave the room for the vote, so the 5-4 vote cast    and merchants from the San Joaquin Valley.
    against taking up the appeal was not enough to carry      Now a single lot goes for $9,000 to $20,000 and
    the motion. Almost by accident, the commission had    double lots average $25,000. The buyers are retired
    decided to consider an appeal of Andrew's project    professional people who can afford to build comforta-
    once more.                                              ble homes, and more than a few speculators. In a
      It is likely that Andrews will win the next vote,    quiet town of 3,000 residents there are 16 or 17 real
    however. The city of Oxnard has prepared a coastal   estate brokers and 10 builders.
    land use plan that depicts the part of the property
    Andrews wants to build on as being beyond the flood
    hazard zone and suitable for residential use. The city

      "People come here because it isn't overdeveloped        Later, the state commission wrestled with the issue.
    and the first thing they do is overdevelop it," said 85-    It finally adopted a set of guidelines that many find
    year-old Paul Squibb, a retired schoolmaster who is    less than satisfactory, but will at least prevent a pro-
    the town's unofficial historian. "If we don't watch      fusion of big homes on tiny lots.
    out, we'll become another Long Beach."                     The guidelines say that the owner of a single lot
      It wasn't always that way. There was a time during     can build a home less than half as large as county
    the Depression, when the town bank failed, that a        zoning normally allows. That means a two-story
    newspaper in Los Angeles gave away lots on Lodge         house of no more than 1,000 square feet, including
    Hill as inducements to subscribe, Squibb said.           garage, if any, on a 25-foot-wide lot.
      Septic tank failures seven or eight years ago led to a   "It's a very simple concept," said Carl Hetrick, ex-
    building moratorium on Lodge Hill, so the area sat    ecutive director of the South Central Coast Regional
    out the latest boom while development was concen-        Coastal Commission. "If you have a very small lot,
    trated on nearby Park Hill.                              that entitles you to a very small house and if you
      There, many of the Monterey pines have been cut        want a very big house, you have to get a very big
    down and the houses have been jammed together just    lot."
    like a South Bay beach city. Some are tastefully de-       But some think the commission went too far,
    signed to blend with the surroundings while others       among them Gerald Gray, a Cambria Realtor and
    are of the cardboard carton school of architecture.      builder. He also is chairman of the California Coastal
      "They look as if each new building was trying to    Council, a lobbying ground bent on abolishing the
    compete with the others to get a view," said Walt        commission.
    Sterling, a retired engineer who lives on Lodge Hill       Gray was a member of the committee that couldn't
    and does not want to see the same thing happen to it.    agree. Although he concedes that the county zoning
      Last autumn, Lodge Hill's building moratorium was      allows too large a house to be built, he thinks the
    lifted after a new sewage treatment plant was opened     commission's rule will lead to houses that are too
    under a coastal commission permit that allows 84 new     small.
    connections a year to the system, up to a total of 2,      "We're going to see people build little tacky boxes
    300.                                                     with little tacky boxes on top of them with mud
      The South Central Coast Regional Coastal Commis-       driveways and cars parked in the front yard," Gray
    sion was immediately flooded with requests for per-      complained.
    mits to build on Lodge Hill, so it appointed a corn-       Replied Hetrick, "You don't have to build an ugly
    mittee of commissioners and Cambria residents, in-       square box to comply with the guidelines. If they're
    cluding Sterling, to recommend what to do.               ugly, it's because the people who designed them
     -The idea was to come up with building guidelines      made them  ugly. There is nothing in the guidelines
    that would preserve as much of the forest as possible,   about ugly."
    as well as reduce the added erosion and loss of scenic
    beauty that would accompany heavy development.
    But the committee could not agree on a plan.

                                                         12

    Coastal Panel Goes to Lengths

    to Protect Big Sur

      Protecting the scenic value of the Big Str coast has    dwellings interspersed with neo-rustic and very visi-
    been a major concern of both the state and Central        ble designs using weathered woods, stone or earthy-
    Coast Regional Coastal Commissions.                       colored stucco.
      The rule is that no houses can be built between the       Edward Y. Brown, executive director of the regional
    highway and the ocean that can be seen by passing         commission, said none of the designs were dictated by
    motorists. Commission staffers even stand on ladders      the commission, but instead were the result of ar-
    to see the view as it would be seen by tour bus pas-       chitects trying to design homes that are less visible.
    sengers.                                                  The approaches range from fairly standard ranch-
      Just south of Carmel, before the Big Sur coast pro-     style dwellings positioned as low as possible to more
    per begins, is a small subdivision that demonstrates      imaginative structures sunk into hillsides.
    the metamorphosis of the visibility policy.                  None of the homes are truly invisible. In fact, the
      When the state and regional commissions came into       sunken, dirt-roofed versions tend to catch the passing
    being in early 1973, only two houses had been built       eye even more than the traditional designs precisely
    on the 17-lot Otter Cove subdivision, but the roads       because they are disguised. The motorist does a dou-
    and utilities to serve all the lots were in place. A third  ble take, asking "Was that a house or not?"
    house was approved by the regional commission soon           Brown believes that attention given to Otter Cove
    after it went to work-a white Mediterranean-style         took more staff time than the results were worth.
    home with a red tile roof. The builder assured the           He said it would have been better to "simply con-
    commissioners it would not be visible from the high-      sider it a developed area and accept the fact that there
    way.                                                      will be 17 homes there eventually."
      But it turned out to be clearly visible from some         The line had to be drawn somewhere, however. As
    parts of the highway.                                     empty as the Big Sur coast appears, major changes
      Next door is another house, not nearly as visible. It   were on the way when Proposition 20 was passed.
    is partly buried in the bluff, colored in earth tones     Already about 800 houses had been built along that
    and has a dirt roof landscaped in natural vegetation.     rampart-like coast and another 800 vacant parcels
      That house was built after the 1976 Coastal Act took    were subdivided and awaited development. Thou-
    effect, strengthening the reqiirement to protect views    sands more privately owned acres were available for
    along Big Surat andje iere.                               further subdivision.
      Now, most of the Otter Cove lots have houses on           What many people consider to be a national scenic
    them. They are an eccentric mixture of disguised          treasure could have been lost.  -RICHARD O'REILLY

    Mediterranean-style house with tile roof, at left on water, is in sharp contrast to camouflaged home, built after
    1976 Coastal Act took effect.                                                                  lm photo by Con Keyes
                  _ | i l s  ~~~~~~~~1

    REPRINTED FROM THE LOS ANGELES TIMES, TUESDAY, MAY 1-2, 1981                             cop~t- 1981 Los Angess TIMs

    State, Landowners Pitted

    on Beach Access
    BY RICHARD O'REILLY
    Times Staff Writer

      Michael Fischer remembers when he first saw the         access requirement. Legal action can be taken to force
    Pacific Ocean. It was where Sunset Boulevard meets        compliance.
    Pacific Coast Highway, and when he turned to drive          The commission's beach access policies have been
    along the shore and look at the sea, he saw mile after    the cause of legal, political and verbal battles up and
    mile of wall-to-wall garages and the backsides of         down the state. The issue of private property rights
    beach-front houses.                                       has been central to the disputes.
      Fischer was 19 at the time. Now he is 40 and execu-       The political and verbal battles seem destined to
    tive director of the California Coastal Commission,       continue forever. But the legal battles have been won
    and he says he still feels a sense of outrage at those    -the latest, and most sweeping, victory coming last
    houses blocking his access to the beach.                  month in a federal court suit involving Sea Ranch, a
      There are thousands of Californians who don't           Sonoma County residential development. Sea Ranch
    share Fischer's outrage. They are the ones who live in    and the Malibu coast have been the hottest battle-
    those beachfront homes or who own ocean-front             grounds in the access fight.
    property and hope to build on it.                           Access to the ocean is guaranteed by the California
      But Fischer and the Coastal Commission are forces    Constitution, which says that no private owner of
    to be reckoned with, for increasing public access to    coastal property "shall be permitted to exclude the
    the state's beaches is something the commission sees    right of way to such water whenever it is required for
    as its most sacred duty. Thus, whenever an owner of       any public purpose ... and the legislature shall enact
    shoreline property seeks a coastal development per-       such laws as will give the most liberal construction to
    mit, the commission usually imposes a condition re-       this provision so that access to the navigable waters of
    quiring some form of beach access.                        this state shall always be attainable for people there-
      The state and regional commissions have been di-        of."
    ligent in seeking access, but it will be years before the   The interpretation given that section by the courts
    full impact of their efforts can be measured. Many        down through the years is that the public has the
    property owners have simply ignored their demands.        right to use any beach up to the mean high tide line,
    Others have agreed to comply, but only some time in       which means the wet sand portion of the beach.
    the future when a local government agency can be            That does not give anybody the right to sunbathe
    persuaded to maintain-and be liable for-accessways        and picnic on the dry sand of someone's private
    through their property. The commission itself is legal-   beach, but it does grant the right to stroll on the wet
    ly prohibited from taking over the accessways.            sand whenever the tide is out. It also allows anyone
      Thus far, the commission's efforts have resulted in     to go fishing, clamming, surfing, scuba diving or
    39 new public accessways to the beach throughout the      swimming and to step back out of the breakers
    state, with another 47 pledged.                           whenever and wherever desired.
      Paths from the road to the beach are not the only         Having these rights means nothing unless there is a
    form of access the commission seeks. It also imposes      way to get onto the beach-thus, the push to create
    conditions on beachfront construction that require        public access where it does not now exist. How gene-
    property owners to yield lateral strips of beach for    rous that access should be has been a matter of dis-
    public use between their houses and the ocean. So far,    pute.
    6.5 miles of additional beach have been opened state-       Peggy Callan, a resident of Malibu for 18 years,
    wide through this method, with another 13.6 miles         said, "You read that constitutional provision and it
    promised.                                                 doesn't say it has to be every 10 feet or every half
      Altogether, more than 1,000 coastal permits have        mile or every mile. It doesn't say how convenient it
    been conditioned to require one or more forms of ac-      has to be."
    cess, according to Don Neuwirth, the commission's
    coastal access program manager.
      Nearly half of the applicants have failed to comply
    with the restrictions. In a few cases it was because the
    permit expired without the project being built. But
    Neuwirth says more than 400 permits are under in-
    vestigation to determine if they are in violation of the
                                                        14

      The Coastal Commission's standard is that the pub-        But Wayne's neighbors were not happy. They sued
    lic should be able to reach sandy beach areas from the    both her and the Coastal Commission to prevent the
    road at least every 500 feet in urban areas, unless       access condition from being imposed. The state attor-
    there is a public beach with adequate access within       ney general represented the commission and the
    one-quarter mile.                                         neighbors eventually lost their lawsuit. But Wayne
      In rural areas, the standard is at least one access    had to pay an attorney to defend herself in the suit,
    way to every usable beach that is on land subdivided      and she says that ended up costing her $38,000.
    for residential use. More access is recommended for         Another very real cost, by her estimate, is the 25%
    larger beaches. Timber and agricultural lands that are    increase in building costs that occurred during the
    subdivided are also supposed to provide access, while     time she was barred from construction.
    access through undivided land should be purchased,          Wayne was very angry at her neighbors initially.
    according to the commission's standard.                   "But now that I've been here awhile I see that the
      In Malibu, there are stretches as long as three miles  people who sued me are probably right," Wayne said
    with no public beach access and other places where        recently. "I don't see how the Coastal Commission
    access points are 1,000 feet apart.                       can feel they're doing the American public a great fa-
      One of the first property owners in Malibu to          vor-they're not."
    cooperate with the Coastal Commission was Phyllis           She now believes that the accessways are of little
    Wayne. She now regrets having done so.                    value in areas like hers where much of the beach it-
      The lot that Wayne bought on La Costa Beach was        self is private above the high tide lines.
    about one-half mile from the nearest spot where the         "There's no restroom, there's no lifeguard, there's
    public could get onto the beach. She said she knew        no place for them to buy a Coca-Cola," she said.
    when she bought the property that access would be a         So far there is no public access through the Wayne
    condition of obtaining a coastal permit to build a        property and chances are there won't be.
    house; besides, she said, she believes in public access     While the state Coastal Commission staff has
    to the beach.                                             pushed for Los Angeles County to accept responsibili-
      So in 1978, Wayne agreed to dedicate a six-foot-       ty for the accessway and open it, the new supervisor
    wide strip along the side of her property to be used as   for the Malibu district, Deane Dana, has persuaded a
    a path to the beach if a public or private agency         majority of the Los Angeles Board of Supervisors that
    would be responsible for building a gated walkway         the county can't afford it.
    and maintaining it.                                         The inevitable Malibu conflict between beach visi-
      Wayne wasn't really giving away anything she           tors and those who can afford to live within spray
    could use. The six-foot strip already was part of an      distance of the surf was set into motion in the 1920s
    easement through which Caltrans took equipment            when movie stars leased a beach on the old Rindge
    onto the beach to repair culverts.                        Ranch and built the Malibu Colony. Later, the ranch

    An illustration of the problem of beach access is this scene at La Costa Beach where homes built closely
    together shut out public.
                                                                                                Times photo by Con Keyes
                                                         15

                                                               Some of the many signs that are posted on private property, denying access to public beaches

    Some  of the many signs that are posted on private property, denying acctrespassing on pri-beaches.

    was broken up and waterfront homes by the hun-             dry sand, in most locations he is trespassing on pri-
    dreds were built.                                          vate property.
      Even in the early years, when a three-bedroom              The exceptions are on about 230 lots covering two
    stucco "cottage" on La Costa Beach sold for $5,775, the    scattered miles of beach. There, the commission has
    land was too expensive and too scarce to allow large       required owners to deed public access to the first 25
    yards. So the building pattern created a solid wall of     feet of dry sand above the high tide line as a condi-
    homes along the ocean side of Pacific Coast Highway.       tion for obtaining a coastal permit to build or re-
    That same pattern created miles of private beach in        model.
    front of those homes.                                        Known as "lateral" accesses, the deeded areas are
      In fact, about 1,300 property owners are able, by        evidence of the commission's effort all along the coast
    and large, to deny to millions of other county res-        to reclaim the shoreline for the public's benefit. It will
    idents, visitors and tourists access to 16 miles of the    take many years, but as beachfront property is re-
    24.5-mile Malibu coast.                                    placed with new structures, the public will gain the
      Over the years, cracks appeared in the wall of          right to use a continuous, or nearly continuous, strip
    beach-front homes. Nine public access easements            of dry shoreline in developed areas of the state.
    were deeded to the county by developers trying to            So far, Los Angeles County has refused to accept
    make landward side property more salable by giving         responsibility for any of the lateral access. But, ac-
    buyers a way to get to the ocean.                          cording to Johnson, it plans eventually to accept the
      The developers did not open the accessways to ac-        strip beaches when enough are obtained to create sig-
    tual use, however. That was left to the county, and it    nificant contiguous access.
    was not done until 1971, through a 3-2 vote of the           At that point the county would also decide which
    county supervisors and over the loud objections of         of the easements from highway to beach that the
    Malibu beach owners.                                       commission has required of property owners will be
      According to Ken Johnson, assistant director of the      opened to public use, Johnson said.
    county Department of Beaches, those accessways are           The county so far has accepted only one such ac-
    used mainly by fishermen, scuba divers and surfers.        cess, the so-called Zonker Harris Memorial Access
      "The sunbathing, family picnic type crowd is not         given by the Nantucket Light restaurant as a condi-
    attracted," Johnson said, "because there are no facili-    tion for receiving a permit to build.
    ties."
      Most of the year, the access stairways deposit visi-
    tors on the wet sand. But during winter, several of
    them lead straight into the water because the winter
    surf causes the beach to recede, Johnson- said. Winter
    or summer, as soon as the visitor begins to trod on
                                                           16

      According to Johnson, the county does not have the      crowds of drug users, motorcycle gangs and nudists--
    money to operate any other accessways, which re-          an argument frequently posed by beachfront property
    quire unlocking and locking gates every day as well       owr ers opposed to the public access.
    as trash pickup and periodic maintenance.                   *4ot every access point in Malibu is fraught with
      Clare Wallace lives about 350 feet from the Zonke.      controversy, however. Recently a developer offered
    Harris access on Carbon Beach, and she was not            not only to give access to and along the beach but
    pleased with its opening nor amused by its name,          also to pay the costs of installing the necessary walks
    which was taken from the tanning fanatic in the           and stairways.
    "Doonesbury" comic strip.                                   His offer was accepted by the Coastal Commission
      "We thought it was rubbing salt into the wounds,"       and in return he was allowed to build two duplex
    she said.                                                 condominiums on two lots where otherwise he would
      "It is a private beach,'Wallace said." We p-, taxes     have been held to one dwelling per lot.
    on it. It's just like if we went to Beverly Hills and       The commission staff reasoned that the public re-
    tried to use someone's private swimming pool. I don't     ceived more benefit from the new beach access than it
    think they'd be very happy about it."                     suffered harm from allowing the two additional
      But Wallace added, "I wish I could say it's as bad as   dwellings.
    I anticipated. I'm glad it's not." The reason is that       The new access, to Escondido Beach, lies 1,600 feet
    there is no parking, which severely limits its use.       from the nearest access to the east and more than a
      Farther west, where Pacific Coast Highway runs          mile from the nearest access to the west.
    along the bluff several hundred yards inland, Arthur        Five hundred miles to the north of Malibu, in Son-
    and Doreen Franz live in a comfortable home they          oma County, a development called Sea Ranch has 10
    built slowly over the years. It perches near the bluff    miles of stunning shoreline. The question there is
    face and from their patio a sturdy stairway plunges 65    whether a group of private land owners who bought
    feet below to a lonely strip of beach that stretches      lots in the subdivision can reserve that part of the
    perhaps 400 yards between two rocky points.               coast all to themselves.
      Immediately east of them lies a 10-acre parcel of         It is a cold, often fog-shrouded and windswept
    vacant land owned by the State Park and Recreation        landscape of rocky headlands and wave-battered
    Department. It was purchased to stave off develop-        coves, and the homes of natural woods and stones are
    ment, partly at the instigation of the Franzes after the  designed to blend with the environment. The Coastal
    former owner wanted to put up a large condominium         Commission, despite the ongoing dispute, has even
    complex.                                                  given three of the Sea Ranch homes design awards.
      There are two other similar state-owned parcels in        No one was allowed to buy the beaches or the
    western Malibu, plus a county-owned property. The         bluffs. Instead those areas, plus the land separating
    taxpayers paid $9 million for them three to four years    the lots-a total of half the subdivision-are held in
    ago, but so far they are not open to public use.          common by the 1,770 lot owners. For that reason, no
      Last December, the state Park and Recreation Com-       individual property owner, not even the subdivision
    mission designated its three properties as beaches over   developer, is able to comply with the Coastal Com-
    the objections of Malibu residents, including Doreen      mission's conditions requiring beach access, plus a
    Franz. The residents wanted the properties classified     few other matters.
    as reserves or preserves, which would severely limit        In 1968 and 1969, the Hawaii-based developer gave
    their public use.                                         the county 150 acres at the north end of the property
      They argued that the bluffs, beaches and offshore       at the mouth of the Gualala River for a county park,
    reefs are fragile coastal resources that would be         with the understanding that no other public access
    harmed by unlimited public access.                        would be required within Sea Ranch. The park is
      The park commission's action cleared the way for        open, with a large parking lot, but it is little-used.
    the three beach-to-bluff properties to be opened, and       In 1972, in response to state legislation, the develo-
    another state agency, the Coastal Conservancy, had        per agreed to allow public access to two other beach
    money available to give Los Angeles County to build       areas. But one of those access points remains closed
    parking lots, trails, stairways, restrooms and lifeguard  and the other is not marked, so very few people
    towers.                                                   know it is there.
      But the county, at the behest of Supervisor Dana,         Both regional and state commissions have been
    refused to accept the responsibility for operating the    trying to obtain five additional beach accesses since
    three new beaches or to open the fourth beach it had      1973, using several techniques based on the same
    purchased, citing dwindling finances as the reason.       theme-force the individual lot owners to make the
      The Franzes are pleased with the decision but are       homeowners association grant the access by refusing
    offended at the suggestion that the taxpayers, in ef-     to allow the lot owners to build until it is given.
    fect, have bought them a private beach.
      Franz says they would be happy to see the land
    developed as a mini-state park with a full-time ran-
    ger to conduct visitors on guided tours down to the
    beach. What they fear is that it will be opened with-
    out supervision; the parking lot will fill with campers,
    and the secluded beach will be overrun with unruly
                                                          17

      "It is total coercive blackmail," said Jim Ayers, a re-    As for the association's claim that the individual
    tired businessman and Sea Ranch homeowner who is           homeowners did not own the property needed for the
    chairman of the development's citizen action com-          access and thus could not meet the conditions, the
    mittee.                                                    court pointed out that the owners each had a vote in
      "Nobody wants the public in here," Ayers candidly        the association and also took note of the preponderant
    admits.                                                    number of owners who had not yet been able to
      He also admits that most of those 550 owners who         build.
    already have built their homes would just as soon not         "Thus, if the lot owners seeking permits, instead of
    have the other 1,200 or so homes built. So they have       fighting the commission, cooperate to have the associ-
    no real interest in seeing the controversy settled and     ation carry out the conditions imposed by the com-
    allowing the other lot owners to get their coastal per-    mission, those conditions can in fact be carried out,"
    mits.                                                      the judges wrote.
      For a long time it was thought that the lot owners         The next step is for the association to decide what
    were really caught in the middle of two intransigent       to do. It has until July 1 to agree to a compromise set-
    forces, and if given the choice, would urge that the       tlement voted by the Legislature last year. Or it can
    access be given to settle the dispute.                     appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court.
      That theory was put to rest in February, however,          The legislative settlement would provide $500,000 as
    when the homeowners association hired an account-          payment for the accesses and would ease other com-
    ing firm to conduct an independent referendum of           mission restrictions such as the requirement to cut or
    the lot owners, 83% of the lot owners voted, and 71%       trim thousands of the trees planted along Highway 1
    of them said they preferred to await the outcome of a      by the developer, which block views of the ocean, as
    federal court lawsuit against the commission rather        well as relax conditions affecting water and sewer fa-
    than settle.                                               cilities.
      Now the court has spoken, coming down squarely             Fischer, before becoming state director in 1978, was
    on the side of the commission: Beach access has to be      executive director of the North Coast Regional Coastal
    granted if new homes are to be built.                      Commission, which first imposed the conditions. He
      The Sea Ranch Assn. contended that the access con-       was elated by the court ruling.
    ditions are an unconstitutional condemnation of prop- "I'm very proud that once our Sea Ranch conditions
    erty without compensation.                                 were set, we never changed them," Fischer said.
      But a three-judge panel wrote: 'This court finds           But Sea Ranch had been willing to give access to
    public access and aesthetic consideration constitute       three of the five beaches. What did the public really
    areas that legitimately fall within the commission's       gain in the fight for two more, Fischer was asked?
    regulatory power  . ...It is clear that the commission        "What is lost is legitimate, constitutionally protected
    would be in violation of the policies and its duties as    access to very rich tidepool areas," he said.
    spelled out under the act if it had not formulated or         One of the beaches the Sea Ranch owners do not
    imposed the challenged conditions."                        want to give up is a small crescent of sand called
                                                              Shell Beach. Fischer said he has spent a total of 20 to
                                                              30 hours exploring its tidepools. "My life is richer for
                                                              it," he said.
                                                                 He believes others should have the same opportu-
                                                              nity.

                                                           18

    REPRINTED FROM THE LOS ANGELES TIMES, WEDNESDAY, MAY 13, 1981                             copyri  191 LoG Angues Teim

    Coastal commission program

    'Affordable Housing' Puts

    Poor into Seaside Homes
    BY RICHARD O'REILLY
    Times Staff Writer,

      The advertisement might read: "Redondo Beach              The Coastal Commission so far has approved con-
    condo, just steps from the ocean, landscaped, carpet,    struction or conversion of nearly 4,700 affordable
    drapes, appliances. $20,000. No down. To qualified    units for either sale or rental. Of those, about 440 are
    buyer only."                                              occupied. The rest are either in construction or await-
      That buyer could qualify with an annual income as    ing construction, usually because of the unfavorable
    small as $3,900.                                          financial market.
      The buyer would receive no government subsidy             Most of the dwellings are in Los Angeles, Orange
    but would have to agree to conditions intended to    and San Diego counties, and most are in large devel-
    prevent speculation. If the buyer later decided to sell,    opments-20 units or more.
    the price could be no greater than the purchase             Builders of small projects usually can satisfy the af-
    amount plus the percentage increase in the median         fordable housing requirement by paying fees to a
    income since the original purchase. The new buyer         housing authority in lieu of providing the actual
    would have to meet the same income restrictions.          units. So far, nearly $1.6 million in such fees have
      And the costs of any repairs beyond those for nor-      been collected.
    mal wear and tear would be subtracted from the sel-         The cost of subsidizing the affordable units is basi-
    ler's profit.                                             cally borne by the developer, who receives a lower
      That unit and 93 others similarly priced do exist.    overall profit on the project as a result. But sellers of
    They are just inland from the Redondo Pier and when       coastal zone land may also bear some of the cost be-
    they are sold, they will be available only to persons    cause developers are less willing to pay top dollar for
    whose earnings range from 30% to 100% of the area's    land on which they are going to have to provide af-
    median income-about $3,900 to $12,000 for a single    fordable housing.
    person.                                                     The commission's rationale for the affordable hous-
      The reason is that the California Coastal Commis-      ing program is simple: Its overall development re-
    sion has chosen to aggressively define and enforce a    strictions have made coastal zone property so much
    provision of the 1976 Coastal Act meant to ensure that    more expensive than inland real estate that there is
    low-income people-the young, the elderly and the    enough profit in coastal development to absorb the
    so-called working poor-have an opportunity to live    cost of providing affordable housing.
    at the beach as well as visit it.                           Large developers do not seem to have much quarrel
      The commission's method is to require housing    with the program, but builders of smaller projects of-
    developers in the coastal zone to earmark some units    ten complain they cannot make a profit because of it.
    for low- and moderate-income buyers as a condition    So in early May, 1981, the commission excluded small
    for being allowed to build the other units.               developments from the program.
      These earmarked units-called affordable housing-         The state Legislature, however, seems intent on re-
    are sold for thousands of dollars less than other units    moving the commission from the housing business
    in the development, often by lottery because the de-    altogether, and a number of bills have been intro-
    mand is so intense.                                      duced to accomplish that. The commission has indi-
      Few people dispute the need for more affordable    cated it will not oppose the move if cities and coun-
    housing. But controversy has arisen over the method       ties are required to provide affordable housing in or
    the commission has used to create it and whether    near their coastal zones.
    there should be a special requirement for such hous-
    ing near the coast.
      The commission's method is known as inclusionary
    zoning. It is a concept that upsets many people be-
    cause what it means is that the rich folks have to live
    next door to the poorer folks. And in Southern Cali-
    fornia that often has racial and ethnic implications as
    well.
                                                        :1

      The question of who qualifies to buy or rent affor-
    dable housing is complex. Usually, the commission
    requires that the units be sold to persons with income
    at or about the median income level. This usually
    means persons whose household income ranges from
    80% to 120% of median income. (The latest median
    income figures for a family of four are $21,300 in Los
    Angeles County and $23,000 in Orange County.)
      The sale price of an affordable unit is scaled accord-
    ing to the buyer's income level, not to the size or
    quality of the unit. Thus, a low-income person pays
    less than a moderate-income person for the same
    unit.
      To prevent developers from selling only to the
    highest-income families that meet the guidelines, the
    commission specifies that so many units must go to
    80% income families, so many units to 90% income
    families, and so on.                                       Betty Balin surveys beach from her apartment at
      Sometimes a developer will offer to sell to even        One Venice Boulevard, a low-cost housing unit.
    lower-income people, thus accepting an even lower                                            Thus Poto by Co K"_
    profit margin but giving the commission an added in-
    ducement to permit the project.
      That was the case in Redondo Beach, where Joel
    Landau, president of Lincoln Property Co., wanted to
    convert the apartment complex known as The Village
    into condominiums.
      He went to the commission offering to sell 28% of
    the units to low-and very low-income people, some
    of them making less than a third of median income.
    Landau also offered 100% financing to those buyers.
    They will not need a down payment.
      What he got in return was permission to convert in
    an area where the commission is concerned about the
    loss of low-priced rental housing through condomini-        ?                                               - .'
    um  conversions and typically requires 33%  of the
    units to be set aside as affordable housing when it
    does permit a conversion.
      "If you read the 1976 Coastal Act, it's pretty clear                         '
    that affordable housing is part of the program," Land-    Bob McLaughlin would like to live in same build-
    au said.                                                  ing, at rear, but it has a waiting list of 1,000.
                                                                                               Times photo by con Keyes
      He likened it to all the other laws builders have to
    comply with.
      "The act was not written by the commission. It was        Anthony first wanted to build a motel on the Ve-
    written by the Legislature," Landau said. Complying       nice property but was turned down in 1974. Then he
    with it is no different from complying with other         sought permission to build a senior citizen apartment.
    laws, he added: "You read the law and it .tells you       Affordable housing was not yet a coastal commission
    what is required."                                        policy, but it was a recognized need and the permit
      The conversion has not gone through yet, and will       was granted.
    not until mortgage interest rates drop some, Landau          Anthony could easily have obtained permission to
    said.                                                     build duplexes on the property after the motel permit
      Other affordable housing projects in Southern Cali-     was denied. But at the time, Anthony said, he figured
    fornia have proceeded with mixed results.                 the 50-unit apartment would be more profitable than
      Last month, a five-story apartment building front-      the duplexes. Changes in the real estate market dur-
    ing on the beach in Venice opened for senior citizens.    ing the intervening years make that no longer true,
    Under a federal rent subsidy program, the elderly         but Anthony and his partners will still make a profit
    tenants pay an average of $120 a month for one-bed-       on the project.
    room apartments with private balcony patios and un-         Nearby, in the Ocean Park section of Santa Monica,
    obstructed views of Santa Monica Bay.                     Raymond Nam has received a coastal permit to build
      The opening came seven years after owner Jim An-        a five-unit condominium three blocks inland from
    thony and his four partners first sought a coastal per-   the beach, with the condition that he price one unit
    mit to build. The long delay was only partly due to       low enough for a person of moderate income.
    demands of the Coastal Commission. The financial
    marketplace was also a major reason for the delay.
                                                          20

      Nam, a Korean immigrant and restaurant owner,          because he was selling the other units at top price al-
    bought the vacant land a year and a half ago. At the     ready.
    time, he did not realize there was a Coastal Commis-       The other builders agreed with that assessment. All
    sion or that it then generally required the inclusion of  of them said that even if they did not have to provide
    affordable housing for projects of five units or more.   affordable units, they would not sell their unrestricted
      Now he no longer wants to build. As soon as he         units any cheaper.
    gets his building permit, he hopes to sell the package     In Orange County, a developer-builder called the
    to someone else and let them deal with the risks of      Warmington Group is specializing in affordable hous-
    building and selling the units.                          ing, and making money at it.
      But the requirement to provide one affordable unit       Sandy Sandling, Warmington's executive vice pres-
    is not the only factor driving up Nam's costs, accord-   ident, explained the secret: build a lot of houses, build
    ing to his architect, Greg Flewin. Another reason is    them fast and put more of them on an acre than oth-
    that the city rejected the standard, simple design and   erwise would be allowed. Finally, get credit for every
    required a Victorian motif, doubling the building        affordable dwelling built in excess of the number ac-
    costs.                                                   tually required so that those credits later can be sold
      The new design will blend in more with the neigh-      or traded to other developers who need to provide
    borhood. But the property there does not bring the       such housing.
    same high prices obtained in areas with newer devel-       The formula worked for the 392-unit Aliso Creek
    opment, Flewin said.                                     Villas, built outside the coastal zone, where 11,000
      Loren Caplin is a partner in a development firm        low- and moderate-income people vied for the right
    with a coastal permit to build a 12-unit condo in San-   to buy 85% of the condos, at prices ranging from
    ta Monica, with the condition it contain two afforda-    $41,000 to $74,000 last year.
    ble units.                                                 And it is working again, in the coastal zone this
      He estimates that the requirement to get a coastal    time, with a 56-unit project near Dana Point. Those
    permit added an extra eight months to his project. But   two- and three-bedroom units will be sold to low-
    one reason is that he fought the commission.             and moderate-income persons for $51,000 to $90,000
      The staff of the South Coast Regional Coastal Com-     when they go on the market next winter. Other
    mission recommended that three of the units be           dwellings in the same neighborhood will go for $300,-
    priced in the affordable range. Caplin and his part-     000.
    ners objected that that was not economically feasible      The Dana Point project actually is being built for
    and a majority of the commissioners agreed, removing     another developer to meet that developer's Coastal
    the condition from the permit.                           Commission requirement to provide affordable hous-
      But the decision was appealed to the state Coastal     ing. The other developer is selling Warmington the
    Commission where the requirement for two low-            land at a reduced price but retains the right to ap-
    priced units was imposed.                                prove design of the homes so they will not clash with
      Caplin estimates that when the two-bedroom con-        the $300,000 dwellings.
    dos are finished in about a year they will sell for $35,-  "About three years ago, we decided that affordable
    000 to $45,000 to families earning less than $20,000 a   housing was not going to go away," Sandling said, so
    year.                                                    the firm worked out a way to make it pay.
      That will be less than one-fourth what they will be      The firm's approach does not require any direct
    worth on the open market, he said.                       government subsidies, although it does help buyers
      Caplin does not believe in a coastal housing pro-      obtain lower interest loans through government pro-
    gram, except to help the elderly.                        grams where available.
      "I think that if someone wants to live at the beach      Local government has to cooperate by allowing the
    in Los Angeles, they ought to have to work real hard     builder to construct more houses per acre than usual
    to get that," he said.                                   in exchange for including affordable housing.
      In Del Mar, 28 one- and two-bedroom units were           Building all the dwellings at once allows subcon-
    sold last year for $20,000 to $47,000, by the T.L. Sheld-  tractors to shave their bids and allows materials to be
    on Corp. as a condition for converting a 103-unit        purchased in greater quantity at a greater discount.
    apartment complex to condominiums. Similar but un-         Another saving is in reducing the duration of-and
    restricted units in the complex sold for $49,000 to      thus the interest to be paid for-the construction loan,
    $70,000.                                                 he said.
      Terry Sheldon said, "I gave up a million and a half      What the company does not do is use prefabricating
    cash." But he is not complaining.                        techniques or buy lower quality materials, Sandling
      "The Coastal Commission has been very coopera-         said.
    tive ... .While I don't get everything I want, they        Referring to Aliso Creek Villas, he said, "We didn't
    are willing to compromise and if I come up with          cut one corner in quality, we used the same appli-
    what they want, I can get it approved.                   ances and everything we would put in $200,000
      "Too many other developers try to fight them. If I     homes."
    hadn't negotiated that compromise with them I'd still
    be sitting here without a deal."
      Sheldon said the inclusion of affordable units in his
    project did not drive up the costs of the other units
                                                         21

                                          ___ ......._.      One of the many paradoxes of the commisslon's
                                                  .� ...   tuhistory is that the housing provision was put m the
                                                           act to placate one influential legislator, Sen David
                                                           Roberti (D-Los Angeles)-who still ended up voting
                                                           against the bill
                                                             Now Roberti is Senate president pro tem and
                                                           staunchly defends the housing requirement He also
                                                           compliments the Coastal Commission for being "very
                                                           diligent" m interpreting and enforcing the rule
                                                             Impetus to change the state commission's housing
                      rIe pohcy has come  from the South Coast and San Diego
                                                           regional commissons, where a maonrity of the com-
                                                           nussioners oppose the affordable housing concept
                                                             The most ardent critic on the South Coast cormmis-
                                                           sion is Robert Ryan, a Rancho Palos Verdes city coun-
                                                           cil member, who now also sits on the state commns-
                                                           sion as a regional representative
                                                             Ryan believes that If housing is to be set aside for
                                                           lower-mcome persons, the same should be done for
                                                           nuddle-mcome fanuhes as well He also beheves that
                                                           the financial burden should not be placed on residen-
                                                           tial developers but instead should fall to commercial
                                                           and industrial employers since they provide the jobs
                                                           that require workers at wages below the amount
                                                           needed to live in the coastal area
                                                             Already, one potentially significant change has
                                                           been made in the state comrmssion's housing policy
                                                             Last week, the comminssion unanimously agreed to
                                                           exempt small coastal developments-fewer than 10
                                                           units-from the requirement to provide affordable
                                                           housing
                                                             The commission found that the yield of affordable
    Seals doze and sea gulls fly on the rugged Cali-        housng from such proectss small
    fornia coastline                                          The change was opposed by many community ach-
                                    TMs Photo y Con Keyes  vists, who argued that m urban areas there are few
                                                           vacant parcels of land large enough to build 10 or
      Affordable housing m the coastal zone is a recent     more units With small projects exempt from the
    concept, growing out of the realization that the efforts    housing requirement, there will be little new afford-
    of the original Coastal Commission under Proposition    able housing in urban coastal areas, they said.
    20 served to greatly increase property values by mak-     Many officials in coastal communirties would wel-
    mg it much more difficult to build                      come that outcome
      Thus the 1976 Coastal Act contains a provision say-     "Is there any reason why the low-income people
    mg that "    housing opportunities for persons of    have to hve m  the hlughest-pnced property?"  asked
    low- and moderate-income shall be protected, en-        Charles Shartle, planrung director of Torrance
    couraged, and, where feasible, provided"                  He argues that it would be better for the comrms-
                                                           sion to allow the cities to plan their own method of
                                                           providing affordable housing, even If the housing is
                                                           farther inland
                                                             That Issue, according to Russell Sehx of the League
                                                           of Cahforma Cities, is the hardest one for cities to
                                                           grapple with, and is tht major reason cities have
                                                           failed to complete acceptable local coastal programs by
                                                           the deadline Imposed in the coastal act
                                                             "They just don't see housing as a coastal Issue," Se-
                                                           hx said

                                                        22

    REPRINTED FROM THE LOS ANGELES TIMES, THURSDAY, MAY 14, 1981                              Copyrg ht  1981Le AngeLs Titme

    Coastal Farmers Find Subdivisions

    More Profitable Than Crops
    BY RICHARD O'REILLY
    Times S$tff Writer

         l "   l'"   .1  1   .  I..  .,  ;  .� I,       I

      Bruno Odello is the last artichoke farmer in the          In 1958, the family could have sold off a portion of
    Carmel River Valley. Once there were dozens.              the farm for $1.5 million to a shopping center
      The picture window of his comfortable living room       developer but decided not to. The farm was yielding
    looks out on 125 acres of artichokes, which Odello's      all of them a comfortable living.
    son now manages, and the horse barn where Odello's           The shopping center developer bought another
    father died of a heart attack in 1964.                    nearby artichoke farm, and over the ensuing 20 odd
      The Odeilo story is the story of family farms all    years so did other developers.
    along the California coast. Their fields are worth more      The county assessor took note and over a 10-year
    as real estate than as crop land or livestock range. The   period the Odellos saw their property taxes rise from
    temptation to sell or subdivide is often stronger than     $4,500 to $38,000 a year.
    the urge to till the soil.                                   When another developer approached Odello in the
      No one will starve if farming and ranching cease        early 1970s, he was more interested. This time the
    along the coast.                                           proposal was to buy up about half the farmnn-a 157-
      But the character of the coastline would be radically   acre portion between U.S. 1 and the Pacific Ocean-
    different from what it is now, according to Michael       and dredge out channels to create a subdivision of
    Fischer, executive director of the California Coastal     waterfront homes.
    Commission. The commission is trying to prevent that         Odello's neighbors, fond of overlooking his arti-
    from happening.                                           choke fields from their hillside homes, stopped that
      The mild climate along the coast south of San Fran-     proposal by persuading the state to buy the property
    cisco Bay makes it ideal for also growing winter to-       as a recreation site, he said.
    matoes, strawberries, Brussels sprouts, garbanzo beans       He was paid $10,000 an acre for the property in
    and flowers. To the north, the coastal terrace supports    1974, and signed a lease with the state to continue
    dairy herds and large stands of redwood and Douglas        farming the land until it is developed as a state park.
    fir.                                                         Now, it looks as if Odello will be able to farm that
      "Whether or not they are luxury foods or staples,"      section for a long time. Plans to put in a campsite for
    Fischer said, "those specialty crops are grown eco-        recreation vehicles have been scuttled and the coun-
    nomically only here along the coast."                      ty's local coastal program calls for the land to remain
      The 1976 Coastal Act, under which the state and re-     in agricultural use.
    gional Coastal Commissions operate, says, "the maxi-         The beach area where the river meets the sea is
    mum  amount of prime agricultural land shall be            open as a state park, however.
    maintained in agricultural production," and it directs       Odello was left owning 134 acres on the inland side
    how that shall be done.                                   of the highway, which he leases to a lettuce grower.
      Conversion of farmlands around the periphery of           Odello says he wants to keep farming, but he needs
    urban areas is to be limited to those parcels with the    the profit from developing a portion of the 134 acres,
    least agricultural viability, and non-agricultural lands  plus the drawing card of a roadside restaurant-vege-
    are to be developed before agricultural properties.       table market, to make that feasible. He wants to build
      Had this policy been followed in years past, the        houses and a motel on 34 acres to the rear of the
    Odello farm could have been preserved intact.             property where the foothills begin.
      Batista Odello, Bruno's father, and about a dozen         County officials are agreeable to at least a portion of
    other Italian immigrants leased about 300 acres at the    that development. But regional Coastal Commission
    mouth of the Carmel River in 1924 and planted them        officials say they will resist any development along
    in artichokes. Over the years, the others moved away      already overcrowded U.S. 1.
    and by 1945 the elder Odello had purchased the land
    and set up a farming company with his two sons.
      Urbanization began to seriously threaten the farm
    in the early 1960s. The city of Carmel, which already
    had pushed south to the river bank, leapfrogged the
    Odello farm to erupt in a new subdivision on a bor-
    dering knoll. That forced Odello to halt aerial spray-
    ing of his crops. Insect dclamage increased and his
    profits were reduced.
                                                         23

      Odello is used to controversy surrounding his land
    and he has learned the language and the tools of the                            0          15        30
    land-use planner He Is as familiar with phrases hke                                      MILES
    "nriparian habitat" and "cluster development" as he is
    with the price of a box of artichokes on the New York
    market And in his garage rests a model of the devel-       _                        San
    opment his farm could become                                                        Jose
      "When I was a youngster farming with my dad,"
    Odello said, shaking his head, "I would have never
    guessed it would come to this "
      In theory, Odello, the county and the Coastal Com-               Flowers or
    mission are m general agreement Everyone recog-                     People'
    nrzes that his property has been nearly encircled by
    development and is no longer the viable artichoke
    farm it once was What Is left Is the mevitable hag-
    glhng over how much of the farmland must be pre-
    served and how much the Odellos will be allowed to
    develop
      It all raises the question of whether a farmer has
    some inherent right to put his land to another, more
    profitable use If he has the opportunity                                          Monterey
      According to Fischer, executive director of the Cah-
    forma Coastal Commission, he does not
      Fischer believes society has as much right to decide     Last Artichoke
    that certain land should remam m  agricultural or              Farmer
    open space uses, thus having a low dollar value, as it
    does to decide that other land should be zoned for                                               _
    skyscrapers and fetch premium pnces
      In fact, the Cahliforna Supreme Court has ruled min
    several cases that a property owner has no vested           0          15        30
    rght to a particular zoning classification and that he
    is not entitled to compensation if his land loses value              MILES
    by being rezoned from urban use to agricultural use
      An estimated 445,000 acres of the total 13 million
    acres in the coastal zone are suitable for agriculture,
    the Coastal Commisslon estimates Some of that land                                MAPPED
    -no one Is sure how much-now hes fallow
      Paradoxically, the Coastal Act's definition of prunme
    agricultural land has had the effect of actually reduc-
    ing the amount of land under cultivation                              Oceansde
      In wntming the Coastal Act, the Cahforna Legisla-
    ture said its definition of prunme agricultural land was
    the same as one used in a 1965 agricultural preserva-
    tion bill That bill was designed to let farmers and                                 mat
    ranchers escape soanng property taxes                                               Houses
      The problem is that the 1965 law set a quite low
    figure of $200 gross yield per acre to qualify as prime
    agricultural land, if soils alone were not of sufficient
    quality to ensure that rating That was fine for land-                              San
    holders looking for a way to escape high property                                 Diego
    taxes
      But the same definition, now used by the Coastal
    Act to identify that land which should not be devel-
    oped, caused many of those same landowners to take                                       CALIOR-
    their property out of production lest it be forever
    barred from development
      That happened even though the Coastal Commls-                                          Times graphcby Welma Fu Sun
    sion has not, m practice, used the $200-an-acre test
    Instead, it has relied on more accurate measures large-    land to be taken out of production, according to Peter
    ly developed by the federal government                  Mackauf, general manager of Carlsbad Tomato Co m
      Nonetheless, the fear that the commission could use    San Diego County
    the $200-an-acre test has caused many acres of farm-
                                                         24

    The Bruno Odello farm, center, now surrounded by urban areas In foreground, the Pacific   T          , photoCo, K

      "' can grow dandelions out here, make wine from        Diego Regional Coastal Commission, "but it's not
    them, and make $200 an acre out of it," Mackauf           100% accurate."
    complamed.                                                  Crandall said the lands nearest the coast are also the
      Mackauf esthmates that 25% to 30% of the farmland      lands already served by roads and utilities, making
    m the Carlsbad area, most of which is leased to grow-     them the most logical areas for future development
    ers by absentee owners, now hes fallow as a result          Carlsbad is not the only coastal cty with major
      Those farmers whose land still Ls in production        conflicts between farming and development
    worry about profits diminishing as a result of higher
    wages, increased water costs and tougher competition
    from farmers m other areas, according to Mackauf
      "We can't farm if we can't make money," Mackauf
    said "We're here to make a buck "
      Add to that the pressure to subdivide farmland, and
    Mackauf concludes that coastal farming is being
    squeezed out of the Carlsbad area                                                    _
      A San Diego County study concluded that m  the
    long run, the Carlsbad area would lose substantial m-
    come by converting farmlands to residential use
      Still, the state Coastal Commission has approved a
    plan allowing for the partial development of three
    large parcels of largely agricultural land. Basically, the
    plan allows duster development m some areas of the
    land while requiring that other areas be kept m agri-
    cultural use forever
      Mackauf, chairman of an agricultural advisory com-
    mittee set up by the city, does not like the commis-
    sion's plan He contends that it allows buildmg on
    some of the best farm sods while reserving the poorer
    soils for agricultural use
      Has committee argues that the farmers ought to be
    able to farm the best soils for as long as Is economi-
    cally feasible, while the developers build on the worst
    lands first
      The reason for the conflict is simple The best soils
    are nearest the coast, which also makes them the most
    expensive, most developable properties                    A field worker with flowers grown on north coast's
      "There's some truth," to Mackauf's criticism, ac-       Half Moon Bay
    cording to Tom Crandall, executive director of the San
                                                          25

      The city of Half Moon Bay, where half the land          The city's plan for the vacant land, as evidenced by
    within the aty is agricultural, Is another               a large map on Mortenson's wall, is to allow about
      When the 1906 San Franasco earthquake sent peo-       70% of it to be developed and retain the rest for open
    pie fleeing m search of a safer place to hve, the httle    space and agricultural use
    San Mateo County town boomed It was subdivided             He has another map that shows what the staff of
    into thousands of lots, many of which were sold but    the Central Coast Regional Coastal Commisslon is
    never built upon The boom soon fizzled                   willng to accept-about 30% development
      Another boom began about 15 years ago when              "It's just too late for the city to become a farm,"
    Westinghouse Corp bought substantial amounts of    Mortenson said "The city of Half Moon Bay will
    land m  and around the town and announced major          never accept that until a judge tells us to"
    development plans But most of the plans were not          His phrase was well chosen Mortenson made it
    carried out                                              clear that every step the city takes m preparing and
      Although the city fathers at one time were expect-    submitting its local coastal program for approval by
    ing a population of up to 100,000, according to City     the commrssion is being done with an eye toward
    Manager Fred Mortensen, today the aty has only 7,-    making the strongest court case to force the commis-
    200 inhabitants                                          sion to accept the city's plan
      The spasmodic growth pattern has left Half Moon
    Bay resembling a huge checkerboard Large sections of
    undeveloped agricultural land, interspersed with
    tracts of housing
      The great conflict between the city and the com-
    mission is whether the vacant lands shall be pre-
    served for agriculture or allowed to develop Only
    about 500 of the 2,000 vacant acres are farmed, mostly
    in flowers The rest hes fallow

    Coastal Panel to List

    Affordable Housing

      A deluge of requests for mformation from low-         opment also has a list of affordable rental units under
    moderate-income people seeking so-called affordable      construction throughout the region, not lust m coastal
    housing in coastal areas prompted the California    areas They are units m which HUD  s assisting m the
    Coastal Commisslon on May 13, 1981, to offer mforma-     financing Managers of those units do not usually ac-
    tion to those making written requests                    cept names for a waiting list until the project IS with-
      What the commission will provide is a list of hous-    m 90 days of completion
    mg developments m which affordable housing Is re-          That hist Is available by writing  Neighborhood
    quired, along with the present status of each project    Assisted Housing, U S Department of Housing and
     It also will tell what local housing authority should  Urban Development, 2500 Wilshire Blvd, Los An-
    be contacted to get on the waiting list for the units,    geles, Calif 90057, Attention Henry Guerrero
    and provide the address                                    Finally, local city and county housing authorities
      To obtain that information, write Kati Corsaut,        should assist persons mqumng about affordable hous-
    Public Information Officer, California Coastal Com-      mg Persons who do not receive an adequate response
    misslon, 631 Howard St, San Francisco, Calif 94105       from their local housing authority should contact
      The U S Department of Housing and Urban Devel-         their local city council member or county supervisor

                                                       26

    REPRINTED FROM THE LOS ANGELES TIMES, FRIDAY, MAY 15, 1981                              CoprigWM 1981 Los Angss Thifa

    State, Developers Battle

    Over Wetlands Definition
    BY RICHARD O'REILLY
    Times Staff Writer

      Of all the places along Califomnia's magnificent,        What catches the eye of visitors to Elkhorn are the
    1,100-mile coastline/the most fragile and least appreci-  dense forests of eucalyptus and towering stands of
    ated are the wetlands. They are where the earth suck-    Monterey pines, along with the velvety green hill-
    les the sea, a nursery of unbelievable fertility.        sides of the uplands.
      If the planet can be thought of as having nests, its     But the real value of the slough lies in the miles of
    coastal wetlands are those nests. They are the places    grayish-brown lowlands, which are covered with a
    where much of the Earth's food chain is born.            scrubby plant called pickleweed, according to Moore.
      They lie open for all passersby to see. To people      Pickleweed, known to botantists as Salicornia, is
    unaware of their role, they are seen as wastelands--    found in abundance in California's coastal wetlands.
    useless swamps and mudflats that would be better           It may not be very pretty, but it is essential to the
    used as channels for marinas and waterfront homes,       coastal life-chain. It dies and decays and supports the
    or as pastures or hotel sites.                           growth of bacteria, producing a fertile combination
      That has already happened to 75% of the wetlands       that is the bottom rung of the estuarine food chain.
    south of Point Conception. Marina del Rey was once a     Thus, according to scientists, reducing the size of the
    wetland, as was San Diego's Mission Bay and New-         salt marsh reduces the productivity of the adjacent es-
    port Bay and much of the land that now comprises         tuaries and lagoons.
    the harbors of Los Angeles and Long Beach.
      Before Los Angeles and Orange counties became
    urban sprawl, the coastal Indians could canoe from
    what is now Redondo Beach to the present site of San                                            LIFORNIA
    Pedro, and marshes spread inland all along the shore                                       A      STLINE
    from there south to the bluffs known now as Corona
    del Mar.
      Once the California coast provided 300,000 acres of                                            MAPPED
    wetlands. Now, only 79,000 acres are left, according to
    the state Coastal Commission.
      Proposition 20 and its successor, the 1976 Coastal
    Act, placed high priority on saving the remaining                          Watsonville
    marshes and estuaries. No wetlands have been de-
    stroyed since they took effect. And some steps have
    been taken to permanently preserve the best of the
    remaining wetlands.
      The best example is Elkhorn Slough, which empties
    into Monterey Bay at Moss landing. With a combina-
    tion of state and federal funds, a portion of the slough
    has become the state's first federally designated es-                          a
    tuarine sanctuary. (There are plans to designate the
    mouth of the Tijuana River near the Mexican border                                       State   Fi
    as the second sanctuary.)                                                                         ne
      Ken Moore, a state Fish and Game Department bio-                                        Sanc
    logist, is resident manager of the Elkhorn Slough                                          0
    sanctuary, which takes its name from the shape of its Salinas
    curving channels. The state, using a federal grant,
    bought 1,000 acres last summer--an old dairy ranch
    along the east shore of the slough-and Moore is
    busily writing up proposals for its management, while             Monterey
    the state negotiates to buy another 500 acres.                                      0      4
                                                                    C armel               MILES

                                                                ~~27 Tekr~~m . 0." by Wdam rs sun
                                                       27

      Huge populations of invertebrates feed off the fer-    with guidelines set forth by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife
    tile debris of the marsh. These invertebrates-worms,      Service. But there are no maps that unequivocally
    mollusks, crabs, shrimp-form the diets of large num-      establish wetland boundaries, according to Michael
    bers of fish and birds. The fish swim in on the flood     Fischer, executive director of the state Coastal Corn-
    tide, eat and go back out to sea with the ebb.            mission.
      The most easily seen wetland inhabitants are the          The phrase in the Coastal Act, "covered periodically
    birds, and for them it is a paradise. There are long-     . . . with shallow water" doesn't say how frequent
    legged waders that fish with their beaks, others that     the periods may be. Scientific examination of the soil
    skydive and swim for their food and still others that     and plants does indicate whether land is subject to ti-
    patrol the edges of the marsh for the mice and other      dal inundation, but even that is not an absolute mea-
    small mammals living there.                               sure, according to Fischer.
      There are the shy, threatened species like the clap-      So it becomes a contest among experts, with those
    per rails and the least terns and the Belding's savan-    hired by the would-be developers usually finding a
    nah sparrows that live only in wetlands areas, along      much smaller area meeting the wetlands criteria than
    with common finches and robins and other ubiqui-          those of the state or environmentalist groups.
    tous species that winter in the milder coastal climate.     The act lists 19 wetlands that have been given pri-
      Man benefits too. Many species of commercial and       ority for public acquisition, but it does not define
    game fish depend on wetlands for spawning, such as        their boundaries.
    halibut, herring, anchovy, steelhead trout and salmon.      Controversy rages over some wetlands not named,
    Migratory fowl also use them as resting and feeding       however, such as the Ballona wetlands near Los An-
    stops along their thousands-mile journeys.                geles International Airport and Bolsa Chica near Hun-
      But over the years the wetlands have come under        tington Beach.
    increasing pressure from man. Elkhorn Slough is not         The Ballona wetlands are within a 926-acre site
    in danger of being converted to condominium sites,        owned by Summa Corp., which proposes to develop
    but it is threatened with being silted up by the runoff    it in the pattern of its neighbor, Marina del Rey.
    from nearby strawberry fields. The problem was              The marina wiped out virtually all the wetlands
    created by farmers when they scraped the natural ve-     upon which it was built when Los Angeles County
    getation from nearby hills so the strawberries could      dredged it 20 years ago and leased it to private devel-
    be grown.                                                 opers. Summa says it is willing to preserve 72 acres of
      Ironically, the best way to preserve the slough may    saltmarsh and make it available for public acquisition
    be to convert the surrounding agricultural land to       and restoration.
    home sites. That is suggested by a professor at UC          County planners, after an initial study and but-
    Berkeley who found that erosion from the hillside         tressed by environmentalists, said that 445 acres,
    strawberry fields is twice as high as it would be if the  about half the total area, should be set aside for pre-
    land were in residential development, and 10 times        servation. A new county study now is under way.
    worse than it would be if the hillsides had natural ve-     Rimmon C. Fay, a marine biologist and former re-
    getation.                                                 gional and state coastal commissioner, says that the
      The California Coastal Act says that the biological    portion of the wetlands Summa would leave un-
    productivity of wetlands shall be maintained and,        touched is "good marsh area, the best of what's
    where feasible, restored. It defines wetlands simply as  there."
    coastal zone lands "which may be covered periodical-        But it is not nearly enough in Fay's view, and he is
    ly or permanently with shallow water and include         one of the leaders in the effort to preserve a much
    saltwater marshes, freshwater marshes, open or closed     larger portion.
    brackish water marshes, swamps, mudflats and fens."        '"What they propose to do-build houses and in-
      The act also spells out what kind of development       dustry-could be done anywhere," Fay said. "It is not
    can occur in wetlands and it is very limited-no           coastally dependent and it menaces coastal resources."
    homes, motels, restaurants or curio shops, for in-          Through the actions of the Coastal Commission, the
    stance. Port facilities, nature study, aguaculture and    public has a chance to protect those wetlands, Fay
    similar activities, and marinas under certain condi-      said. "If that opportunity is lost, no expenditure of
    tions, are allowed.                                       public money will ever make it possible again.
      None of these developments can occur, however, if         "So you battle for 445 acres and somebody says, 'Is
    there is a less-damaging place to put them. They          that reasonable?' Wowee, has it been reasonable to do
    must not harm the plant or animal life and must           what they've done? That's the question."
    compensate for those areas that are disturbed. For in-      Fay said the preservationists' efforts must be com-
    stance, new wetlands must be created or former wet-       pared with the more than 2,000 acres of wetlands that
    lands restored to make up for any wetlands destroyed     were there before Marina del Rey and other develop-
    by the development.                                       ments came.
      Obviously, once the Coastal Commission deter-
    mines that an area is a wetland, little can be done
    with it except to preserve it. So the great battle comes
    over defining what is and is not a wetland.
      The Coastal Commission enters the fray armed with
    the advice of Fish and Game Department experts, and
                                                         28

      By that comparison, he said, Summa's offer of 72          Resolution of the conflict is many months away.
    acres is not enough.                                      The next step is for the county to produce its local
      Summa's Carole Maher, director of the proposed          coastal program for the area, a process now under
    Playa Vista project, disagrees. She said the firm deter-  way.
    mined through careful scientific study that the 72          Once that is completed, the Coastal Commission
    acres are the only wetlands on the property. But          must rule on whether the county's plan meets the
    Summa also would set aside another 28 acres, includ-      policies of the Coastal Act. At that point, the commis-
    ing sand dunes and an area of degraded pickleweed         sion will have a formal opportunity to decide how
    marsh. In addition, the company's plans call for en-      much of the Summa property is wetlands.
    hancement of a 70-acre lagoon area that would serve         Maher said she is confident that "once our data is
    several purposes, including use by migratory fowl and     reviewed, the conclusion will be pretty close to ours."
    as a drainage basin to collect runoff from the devel-       There could be an altogether different approach to
    oped areas.                                               the Ballona controversy, however. Because much of
      The rest of the 926 acres would be developed into       the area was undeniably wetlands a century or more
    7,000 housing units, two hotels, office buildings, retail  ago before dikes and tide gates were built to keep out
    shopping, a manrina and, at the eastern end now occu-     the sea, there are those who contend that the public
    pied by its subsidiary, Hughes Aircraft Co. and           still has a claim on that portion of the property that
    Hughes Helicopters, a major industrial development,       once was tidelands, just as the public now has a right
    Maher said.                                               to the coastline up to the high-tide line.
      She said the company estimated in 1979 that it            That argument has been used by the city of Los
    would cost $38 million to restore the 445 acres identi-   Angeles to seek an easement across a small portion of
    fled by the county to viable, tidally flushed wetlands.   Ballona property and is now being tested in the
    It would involve extensive excavation of dredged          courts. The trial court ruled in favor of the city. The
    material dumped on the property over the years, in-       Court of Appeal, in a 2-1 decision, reversed that rul-
    cluding dredgings from construction of Marina del         ing, setting the stage for a state Supreme Court ap-
    Rey.                                                      peal.

             6�:!  "                                                                         .

         -                           -~�               '[                   I"o

    The Ballona wetlands near Los Angeles International Airport; for some of the   Ken Moore, resident man-
    prominent inhabitants, the birds, it's a paradise.                                 ager of the Elkhorn Slough
                                                                                      sanctuary.
                                                                   Times photo by Con Keyes       nmes photo by Con Keyes
                                                         29

      Another controversial wetlands development is the       Clark said the marsh restoration and public marina
    1,609-acre Bolsa Chica property in Orange County,       project is intrinsically tied to residential-commercial
    about 40 miles southeast of Ballona.                    development of the property. It would be carried out
      The owner, Signal Landmark Properties Inc.,           by using taxes and revenues from marina leases and
    thought it had settled the issue when it agreed to a    slip rentals to repay the estimated $160 million in
    land swap with the state. The swap would give the       bonds needed to finance-the public facilities, which
    Department of Fish and Game 557 acres upon which        would include a high bridge to carry Pacific Coast
    to restore salt marsh and lease space for a marina and  Highway over the new entrance channel.
    give the oil company subsidiary an open channel to         Clark said the Coastal Commission is asking too
    the ocean.                                              much.
      The tidal flow would be used to fill dredged chan-      He argues that wildlife habitat needs already are
    nels elsewhere on the property to create waterfront     met by more than 800 acres of pristine marshland
    homes.                                                  nearby on the Seal Beach Naval Weapons Station, and
      But the Coastal Commission has made a prelimina-      contends that most of the Bolsa Chica property has
    ry finding that the entire area is a wetland, which     not been inundated by tidewaters since 1890, when
    would preclude residential development, and most        dikes and tide gates were installed to keep out the
    other development as well.                              ocean.
      Meanwhile, Orange County officials are in the pro-      The only exception is the waters allowed in since
    cess of preparing a local coastal program for Bolsa      1978 by Fish and Game to restore 140 acres along Pa-
    Chica that Signal Landmark spokesman Wayne Clark        cific Coast Highway.
    said the company could live with.                          Here again, the conflict is not going to be soon re-
      It allows upwards of 5,700 homes, a medium-sized      solved.
    motel, restaurants and shops, a marina and between         "The range of expectation is so great between those
    390 and 500 acres of restored marshland.                who wish to protect all of the wetlands and those
      Clark said the Coastal Commission staff has let it be  who have an economic interest in development of
    known it opposes the county's plan because the staff    each and every acre of those wetlands that it doesn't
    believes it allows too much development.                appear to me that any compromise is possible," Fis-
      Signal Landmark argues, however, that the comn-       cher said.
    mission would be going beyond the bounds of the            He expects both Ballona and Bolsa Chica to end up
    Coastal Act if it opposes the plan. The company         in court.
    claims that the act implicitly designated the 557 acres    "The value of each additional acre they can develop
    the state gets in the land swap as the only wetlands    is so great it's worth a couple of years in litigation to
    on the property, thus freeing Signal to develop the     try."
    rest.
      The Coastal Act does not have any specific lan-
    guage stating that, but it does make reference to com-
    bining the restoration of degraded wetlands with the
    installation of a marina, the bargain that Signal struck
    with the state in the land trade.

                                                         30

    REPRINTED FROM THE LOS ANGELES TIMES, SUNDAY, MAY 17, 1981                                cowpylO 1961 Los Ang�e T^mes

    Two Cities' Coastal Plans

    Highlight Local Dilemmas

    BY RICHARD O'REILLY
    Times Staff Writer

      Two of the most far-reaching actions of the Califor-      Most of the land is owned by the Santa Fe Railroad,
    nia Coastal Commission decided the right of 10 birds      which has long wanted to lay tracks there and devel-
    and a thousand condominiums to occupy separate    op an industrial center offering rail service. San Diego
    niches of the shoreline.                                  port authorities once planned to fill in the marshes
      That is greatly simplified, but it is at the heart of    and part of the bay to create more docks for shipping.
    what the commission did in ruling on the local coastal      But the city rejected both notions and fashioned its
    programs of the cities of Long Beach and Chula Vista.     own bayfront plan calling for a 700-room hotel com-
      The cities faced essentially the same problem: how      plex on the point, other commercial and residential
    to plan for development of their coastlines in a man-     development in nearby uplands, parks, pathways, a
    ner that would win approval of the commission.            golf course and preservation of most of the wetlands.
      Both cities undertook the challenge in a praise-
    worthy, environmentally sensitive fashion. Yet when
    the final test came, one got a near-perfect score and             1  2  3  4  5
    the other flunked out.                                               MILES
      The irony is that Chula Vista, which supported
    creation of the commission and its policies from the                                            STLINE
    beginning, came out the loser while Long Beach, with
    a long history of opposition, made a dramatic turna-
    round and ended up a winner.
      Why it happened that way is mostly a consequence
    of geography, but it illustrates the contradictory as-
    pects of the Coastal Act and shows how the commis.
    sion uses its discretionary powers, often inviting con-
    troversy.                                                                           AREA
      The Coastal Act promises to return to cities and  MAPPED
    counties the authority to regulate development of
    their coastal zones, authority they lost in 1973 when
    Proposition 20 took effect and placed it in the hands                                   San
    of the state and regional coastal commissions.           0                             Diego
      But local governments can regain that authority
    only after they adopt a comprehensive coastal land-
    use plan and the zoning ordinances to enforce it, a
    package known as a local coastal program.                                                         National
      And the plan and zoning must win certification             c             Nity
    from the Coastal Commission before taking effect.
      Getting that certification is not easy because there is
    a built-in conflict between local development pres-                                                 Chula
    sures and the restrictive policies of the act, and among                                        0   Vista
    various provisions of the act itself.
      In Chula Vista's case, the conflict was between               Dispute Over
    Coastal Act policies encouraging public uses such as                Hotel.
    hotels, restaurants, parks and the like, and other poli-
    cies of the act intended to protect wetland wildlife                                       Imperial
    habitats.                                                                      O           Imperial
      The clash, appropriately enough, was centered on
    Gunpowder Point, a 40-acre mound next to San Diego
    Bay and surrounded by salt marsh. It was named for a
    World War I munitions plant that years ago was de-
    stroyed by flood, leaving behind a rambling white                                           TIn gaph by Wem Fu Su
    ruin.
                                                       31

      That plan was modified over the years to reflect    biologist for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
    developing coastal policies: The golf course was            In 1979, about 15 to 20 fledglings were hatched
    dropped, alignment of a road across the Sweetwater        among the 24 to 28 pairs of least terns nesting on the
    River Marsh was changed, buffer widths around the         D Street fill area, according to Pierce. But last year,
    marsh were doubled, and larger areas of new wet-          with increased off-road vehicle use of the area, only a
    lands were proposed to compensate for the several         dozen pairs nested and all abandoned the site before
    acres of fill required by the development.                hatching their eggs.
      The Gunpowder Point hotel remained the center-            (The latest statewide census, 1978, showed 700 pairs
    piece, however.                                           of least terns.)
      It is a spectacular site. To the north is an unimped-     So, for Chula Vista and the Coastal Commission it
    ed view up the bay to the Coronado Bridge, which          came down to an impasse: Wildlife experts wanted
    sweeps across the panorama of the San Diego down-         the marsh and adjacent wildlife habitat to support
    town skyline beyond. To the south, there are water,       those dwindling bird populations; the city wanted its
    distant trees, and the mesas of the Mexican border        bayfront plan-which was predicated on the lucrative
    descending to the sea like a shallow staircase.           hotel site at Gunpowder Point-to be economically
      Fronting on the bay, Gunpowder Point is ringed          viable.
    the rest of the way around by salt marshes forming          "It had to pay for itself," Hyde said.
    the mouth of the Sweetwater River.                          The financial basis of the plan was simple: Allow
      "One of the biggest gripes around here," according      enough development so that the developer could af-
    to Chula Vista Mayor Will Hyde, "is that we've got        ford to provide protective buffer zones, wetlands re-
    this magnificent shoreline, but practically, it's off lim-  storation, landscaping, trails and other environmental
    its to people."                                           enhancements.
      If humans have little access, wildlife has a lot. The     The lengthy and complex Coastal Act gives prefer-
    last census showed the marshes to be home to five         ence to human access to the coast, and tourist use, but
    pairs of lightfooted clapper rails, a grayish-brown       also to preservation of wetlands.
    bird that is endangered on the West Coast. It is the i    The act recognizes its built-in conflicts and directs
    size of a chicken, with a slightly curved beak a couple   that "such conflicts be resolved in a manner which on
    of inches long.                                           balance is the most protective of significant coastal re-
      Nearby, on a long sandy ridge created years ago         sources."
    from material dredged from the bay, the endangered          The next sentence, however, is guaranteed to leave
    least tern struggles to live, according to Dale Pierce, a  local planners in a quandry. It says:

    Long Beach Marina area, now under construction after approval of city's coastal plan. To the left is new Long
    Beach Convention Center.                                                                       'mes hoto by Con Keyes

                                                          32

      "In this context, the Legislature declares that broad-  planning bureaucrats and politicians are drawing up
    er policies which, for example, serve to concentrate      the plans and then giving the public a chance to take
    development in close proximity to urban and employ-       potshots at them afterward.
    ment centers, may be more protective, overall, than         In Long Beach, the committee literally wrote the
    specific wildlife habitat and other similar resource      plan and then ushered it through various levels of lo-
    policieso"                                                cal approval.
      The San Diego Regional Coastal Commission wres-           Bill Davidson, a young attorney who headed the
    fled with those contradictions and struck a comprom-      28-member committee, said its most far-reaching de-
    ise that Chula Vista didn't much like, but one that       cision was its first. It agreed that a two-thirds majori-
    Hyde says the city could live with.                       ty would be needed to reach every policy decision.
      It cut the hotel down to 300 rooms, called for a          "We wanted to get as close to consensus as we
    further study of the impact of development of the         could," Davidson said.
    point of birdlife, allowed a proposed road to cross the     It was a rule that could have paralyzed the group,
    marsh only on pilings and reduced development on          but instead it yielded a plan with broad community
    the D Street fill.                                        support.
      But the state commission, which must rule on all         It was not quick, however. Paternoster ticked off
    local coastal plans, read the Coastal Act differently     the statistics: Three years, 114 full committee meet-
    and accepted the arguments of the state Department        ings, 50 subcommittee meetings, five town hall meet-
    of Game and Fish and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Ser-      ings, two public hearings and 10,600 hours of volun-
    vice that any development on Gunpowder Point              teer time backed up by 8,800 hours spent by the plan-
    would damage the habitat.                                 ning staff.
      So it prohibited the hotel, prohibited the road from      There were disagreements along the way. The com-
    crossing the marsh, even on pilings, and further re-      mittee opposed a large downtown marina favored by
    stricted development on the D Street fill.                the planning staff and got the City Council to go
      The outcome may well be decided in the courts.         along with one less than half the size, Davidson said.
    Chula Vista already has won the first round in a law-       The matter was taken to voters by initiative and
    suit against the state commission. But that decision      they overrode the committee, approving the larger
    only speaks to the procedure used by the commission       marina by about 60%.
    in reaching the decision.                                   Another controversy focused on development of
      Recently the commission reconsidered its Chula          high-rise apartments and condominiums east of
    Vista decision, as ordered by the court, using a differ-  downtown on the bluff seaward of Ocean Boulevard,
    ent procedure. But the result was the same. The plan      the main street along the coast.
    was not approved.                                           The citizens committee wanted to stop the eastward
      Michael Fischer, executive director of the commis-     migration of high-rise construction about a mile short
    sion, thinks there is room for negotiation, however.      of the point favored by Paternoster and the land
      "We didn't say no development on Gunpowder             owners involved.
    Point, we said minimize the impact of that develop-         The boundary was adjusted twice in the political
    ment. We understand that the banker has got to be         process; the city planning commission first shifting it
    convinced, but we're saying, give us a more sophisti-     east the full mile and the City Council then setting a
    cated design," Fisher said.                               compromise limit about halfway.
      Just because a 700- or 300-room hotel is too big          A mile or even a half-mile of 16-story high-rises
    doesn't mean that something smaller, more protective      along the ocean bluff sounds like a lot, but Davidson
    of the upland habitat would not be approved, he said.     said that is misleading.
      The next move is up to Chula Visa.                        Davidson said all that was really in dispute was
      In Long Beach, the scenario is quite different.        whether to allow an additional three to five high-rise
    There, a thousand condominiums will be built across       buildings, at least for the next 10 or 15 years.
    from the Queen Mary near the city's shoreline, and          Long Beach skated past the Coastal Commission on
    the state commission couldn't be happier.                 one issue that is proving to be a big sticking point for
      Long Beach is truly the coastal prodigal son. Its    the local coastal programs of other cities-so-called
    stance has changed from hostility to acquiescense,        affordable housing.
    even support, for the commission. This turnabout            The commission's policy requires that 25% of new
    coincided with changes in the city administration,       coastal housing be priced for families of low and
    primarily the appointment of a new planning direc-        moderate incomes.
    tor, Robert Paternoster, in 1977.
      Paternoster arrived from Pittsburgh to face the ne-
    cessity of planning a local coastal program.
      His approach was to create a citizens advisory com-
    mittee composed of truly divergent, yet representa-
    tive, interests and to give the committee broad power
    to draft the plan.
      Citizen involvement in local coastal planning is a
    requirement of the commission, but most places are
    doing it opposite to the approach in Long Beach; the
                                                          33

      But that provision is not in the Long Beach plan. It             ::
    requires only the replacement of any existing afforda-
    ble housing that is lost to new development.
      The South Coast Regional Coastal Commission and
    the state commission basically accepted Long Beach's
    contention that the city already contained more than
    its fair share of affordable housing.
      The result is that only those people wealthy enough
    to pay the full market value of those 1,000 downtown                 .
    shoreside condos will be able to buy them.
      And that, according to Paternoster, is the only way
    the city's downtown shoreline project will be eco-

      The Long Beach plan sailed through the state com-
    mission on a staff recommendation that it met all the
    policies of the Coastal Act, and the city was hailed by
    commissioners as an example of how other local
    governments could succeed if only they set their
    minds to it.
      The reason Long Beach was anxious to get an ap-
    proved local coastal program, according to Paternoster,
    was so it could regain the power to give the final say
    on development in its coastal zone.
      The advantage for Long Beach coastal property
    owners is dramatic. Now, as long as their proposals
    meet the city zoning ordinance, all they need are
    building permits to build, demolish, remodel, whatev-
    er. And that takes only about two weeks to obtain,
    Paternoster said.
      But just because something is provided in the city's
    new plan, that does not mean it actually will happen.
      A case in point is the oceanfront bicycle path.
      The Long Beach plan emphasized the need for the                                          Ts photo by cotn  a
    bike path as one way to give the public access to the
    beach in areas where there is little or no room to park     The commission does have the power to prevent
    cars. The path would tie together two regional bicycle    local governments from allowing developments that
    trails-the ones along the Los Angeles and San Ga-         violate the local coastal program, however, Fischer
    briel rivers.                                             said.
      But the path was opposed all along by residents of        But that is going to require an enforcement staff,
    the bluff near downtown, who said they feared it    something the commission has not had until this year.
    would attract thieves and muggers on roller skates,         Fischer explained that thus far, it has relied on en-
    something they said had already happened in Venice.       vironmental activists to blow the whistle by appealing
      Their opposition was not enough to stop the path       regional permit decisions to the state commission.
    from being included in the plan. But when it came           This year, several enforcement positions have been
    time to build it, they were able to squelch it.           budgeted and Fischer said he expects to have a seven-
      State funding to help pay the cost of building the     member statewide enforcement staff in place soon.
    bike path was available, but City Council rules re-         Meanwhile, Fischer has his hands full trying to get
    quired a two-thirds vote to approve contracting with      all 106 local coastal programs in the state completed
    another governmental agency, Paternoster said.            and adopted-which, as the experiences of Chula Vis-
      A majority of council members favored the bike         ta and Long Beach reveal, is no simple task.
    path, but not two-thirds, so it was defeated, he said.
      What power does the Coastal Commission have to
    force the city to build the bike path or carry out any
    other provision of its plan?
      None if it means forcing the city to make capital
    expenditures, according to Fischer. The most the state
    agency can do is try to find state or federal sources
    willing to give the needed funds to the city. But it
    cannot force the city to accept the funds, he said.

                                                         34

    REPRINTED FROM THE LOS ANGELES TIMES, MONDAY, MAY 18, 1981                                Cwt 1981 Los A.g_ Tln

    Few Local Coast Plans

    Ready for Turnover
    BY RICHARD O'REILLY
    Times Staff Writer

      The coast is a popular place to be in mid-summer,          The Coastal Act called for coastal communities to
    but this year it may not be much fun trying to devel-      finish their local coastal programs by the end of last
    op property there, especially in Los Angeles County.       year, giving the state commission six months to certi-
      The reason is that the process through which coast�      fy them before the South Coast and the state's five
    al development permits are obtained may be thrown          other regional commissions went out of existence.
    into turmoil beginning July 1.                               Once the programs were certified, the local jurisdic-
      The South Coast Regional Coastal Commission,            tions would regain the right to issue their own coastal
    which has been handling permit applications here for       permits, a power lost to the coastal commissions in
    eight years, will cease to exist.                          1973.
      If the state Coastal Act had been strictly obeyed by       But it has not worked out that way, especially in
    local communities, that would not be a problem. The        the city of Los Angeles and Los Angeles County. They
    act provides for the permit process to be turned over      are two of the slowest jurisdictions in the state to
    to cities and counties by July 1.                          complete the coastal planning task. It may take them
      But most local jurisdictions will not meet the dead-    into 1983 to finish.
    line because they will have failed to complete their         In their defense, the city and county have had to
    local coastal programs, a prerequisite to taking over      grapple with some of the greatest pressures from
    permit authority.                                          developers and preservationists while drafting their
      Only six of the 22 local coastal programs-blue-         plans. And because both governments are so large,
    prints for future coastal management-required for          their planning processes are lengthy and cumbersome.
    Los Angeles County's shoreline will be in place by           Still, Mel Carpenter, executive director of the re-
    July 1.                                                    gional commission, says of both the city and county:
      So the state Coastal Commision, based in San Fran-      "If they had really wanted to do it, they could have
    cisco, will be forced to take on the task of issuing       done it in a couple of years."
    coastal development permits throughout most of Cali-         Norman Murdoch, planning director of the county's
    fornia.                                                    Regional Planning Department, argues, however, that
      The state commission planned to remain in busi-          "we've taken more than our fair share of hassling
    ness anyhow. The Coastal Act requires that it con-         from the Coastal Commission." He said it raised in-
    tinue to operate after the regional commissions are        consequential but time-consuming complaints about
    shut down. But the state commission after July I is        the county's strategy for completing the local coastal
    supposed to assume an overseer role, with enforce-         programs, thereby causing the delay.
    ment powers to assure that local communities abide           City planners Emily Gabel and Ed Johnson said any
    by the Coastal Act.                                        suggestion that the city is dragging its heels is mis-
      Now, the state commission will have to shift gears.     leading. Actually the city spent a lot of time on pre-
      A regional staff will remain to serve the Los An-        liminaries that speed up the process as the programs
    geles-Orange County area, and the state commission         now move toward completion, they said.
    will continue to hold meetings in Los Angeles every
    month, but its workload will be greatly increased-
    meaning added delays in processing pemits.
      In fact, Commission Chairman Lenard Grote has
    suggested that it may even have to call a moratorium
    on permits for some areas if the crunch is too great.
      However, legislation is pending in Sacramento to
    speed up the process. The legislation would allow
    cities and counties to begin issuing coastal permits be-
    fore. they have finished their local coastal programs,
    but in a manner that still assures coastal protection.
      The permits are required for virtually any change
    in the use of coastal zone property-from adding a
    room to a beachfront cottage to building a high-rise
    hotel.
                                                         35

    The cliffs of Palos Verdes Estates are part of a long coastline for which city and county authorities have yet
    to complete their strategies.                                                                            Tms haoto by Can Kft

      Johnson also pointed out that the city already issues            Here is a summary of the local coastal programs for
    many of its own coastal permits under an option in               the Los Angeles area, and the status of each:
    the law that it was the only local jurisdiction to exer-
    cise. Working out the kinks in that process took a                                Los Angeles County
    long time, but now that it has been done, the city will            The county is responsible for programs covering Santa Catali-
    have an easier time taking over the rest of the per-             na Island, Marina del Rey-Ballona wetlands, and the Malibu
    mitting process once its coastal programs are finished,          coast-Santa Monica Mountains.
    he said.                                                           Santa Catalina Island: Creation of an entirely new village at
      City Councilwoman Pat Russell, whose district in-             the Two Harbors area at the island's isthmus is the major issue
    cludes Venice and Playa del Rey-areas for which lo-              to be resolved. Hotels, hostels, privately owned time-sharing
                                                                     condominiums and employee housing would be the major fea-
    cal coastal programs are being written--complained,              tures of the development, designed to open the island's interior
    "It is too big a job to do in the time that was given."          to mainland visitors.
      But John Gibson, whose district includes San Pedro,             The greatest problem is providing an adequate water supply to
    site of another coastal pfan, said the Planning Depart-          serve such a development. Money to pay for the water and sew-
    ment has been slow to do its job throughout his 30               age systems would come from sale of the condos.
                                                                        A draft plan has been completed and is expected to go to the
    years on the City Council. "I've never understood                county's Regional Planning Commission in June.
    why it took so long," he said.                                     Avalon: This mile-square city near the southeast end of the
      However, cities and counties never had to prepare             island has prepared its own plan, which awaits approval by the
    separate plans for their coastal zones until the Coastal         state coastal commission. Major aims of the plan are preserving
                                                                      existing low-price tourist accommodations and assuring so-call-
    Act came along, and it is a more complex task than               ed affordable housing for workers who keep the town's tourist-
    preparing the usual general plan.                                oriented businesses going.
      For one thing, it includes not only a specific land              Marina del Rey/Ballona wetlands: Defining the boundaries
    use plan, but also zoning ordinances to give the plan            of the wetlands is the major issue, with the staff of the Los An-
    teeth.                                                           geles County Museum of Natural History undertaking that task,
                                                Commission's        to be completed in June. Other issues are construction of new
      For another, it must meet the Coastal Commission's            boat slips, public access, future land uses of marine property, af-
    approval and the commission has been quick to send               fordable housing for low- and moderate-income groups, and
    programs back for rewriting whenever it finds that               better access to the Marina Freeway.
    they do not uphold the preservation policies in the                It will be an estimated two years before the plan is completed,
                                                                      due to the controversy surrounding it.
    Coastal Act.                                                       MalibulSanta Monica Mountains: When the requirement for
                                                                      local coastal programs was first imposed, the county already was
                                                                      at work on a general plan for this region. The general plan was
                                                                      recently finished and now the county is at work trying to con-
                                                                      vert it into a local coastal program. More work is needed because
                                                                      the general plan does not address some major coastal issues such
                                                                 36

    as beach access, preservation of scenic areas, and threatened       homes. City planners are recommending the shallow, sandy-
    development of thousands of small lots.                             banked versions and expect opposition all the way to the Coastal
      Malibu is a stronghold of opposition to expanded public access    Commission.
    to beaches and the area's new county supervisor, Deane Dana,          The issue along the peninsula is what to do with the narrow
    recently blocked efforts to open to the public several beaches al-  walkstreets, many of which remain unpaved. City fire officials
    ready owned by the state and the county.                            say they must be widened if 45-foot building heights proposed
                                                                        by planners are to be allowed. Some residents fear that widening
                      City~a of Lns Angeles                             and paving the streets will ruin the atmosphere of the neighbor-
                                                                        hood.
      The city of Los Angeles is preparing seven local coastal pro-       Affordable housing is another major issue. The city owns a
    grams, all of which it hopes will go to the city Planning Corn-     number of peninsula lots it acquired through tax defaults years
    mission for action by November. Once the plans have the Plan-       ago, and would encourage developers to build low-income
    ning Commission's blessing, plus that of the City Council's         housing on them.
    Planning Committee, they will be put before the Coastal Corn-         Venice, north beach area: This plan is in its early stages with
    mission and the full City Council simultaneously-a novel ap-        major issues being affordable housing, preservation of beach ac-
    proach. Beginning at the south and moving north, they are:          cess, limited parking and allowable uses of the oceanfront walk.
      San Pedro: Provision of affordable housing by offering greater      Venice, inland area: No work has begun on this plan, but
    housing density to builders as an incentive is an aspect of this    preservation of affordable housing will be the major issue.
    plan, which is nearing completion. The thrust of the plan is to       Pacific Palisades: No work has been done on this plan. City
    preserve the residential, low-density, multi-ethnic, maritime-or-   planners say it presents no complex problems, but regional
    iented flavor of this seaport area.                                 coastal commission staffers say the issues to be resolved include
      Three large parcels of Ft. MacArthur land, which have been        protection against geologic hazards, access to mountain trails,
    deeded to the city but can be recalled to military use at any time,  preservation of views, beach-related uses and scales of develop-
    also must be plaluned for. The plan also seeks to preserve coastal  ment.
    access for low-income persons by discouraging fees for publicly        El Segundo: Expansion and intensification of energy facilities
    owned beach facilities.                                             are the basic thrusts of this city's plan, which covers a narrow
      Airport Dunes: This area is west of Los Angeles International     ribbon of land less than a mile long and no more than 200 yards
    Airport and once contained about 800 homes before they were         wide. Most of it is taken up by an electrical generating station
    bought and carted away to leave vacant land as an airport buf-      owned by Southern California Edison Co., and the on-shore
    fer. The issue is how much of the dunes area shall be preserved     portion of a marine tanker terminal operated by Chevron Oil Co.
    as dunes and how much shall the airport authority be allowed to        Existing public access along the shore via a bicycle path will
    turn into a golf course.                                            be preserved. The plan was approved by the state commission
      The dunes are the only significant dunes left in the Southland    last September.
    and are home to upwards of 2,000 endangered El Segundo blue            Hermosa Beach: The city submitted its land use plan to the
    butterflies. A draft plan is to be completed in a month, but no     regional commission a year ago. But the plan was withdrawn
    target date has been set for the final version.                     before it could be considered after local residents apparently be-
      Playa del Rey: This plan is the one nearest completion among      came concerned it would allow or require urban renewal. The
    -those being prepared by the city. The greatest controversy has      plan has not been resubmitted. Issues include lack of parking for
    surrounded the Del Rey Lagoon area where planners are seeking       beach-goers, development on two vacant lots and preservation of
    to preserve the present pedestrian-oriented village atmosphere      affordable housing. Regional coastal commission staffers noted
    while allowing for replacement of old, small duplexes with lar-     that the latest drafts of the plan are even more vague than the
    ger units.                                                          earlier version, which they considered too vague.
      Builders who agree to add a moderately priced unit to replace-      Long Beach: This was the first city in the county and the first,
    ment duplexes would be allowed to build larger units as an in-      and so far only, major city in the state to complete its plan and
    centive-a strategy intended to provide affordable housing in        begin administering its own coastal permits. The plan concen-
    this area where 75% of the residents are renters.                   trates new development in the downtown shoreline area, allows
      Another controversy surrounds a parcel of vacant beachfront       a few high-rise residential buildings east of the downtown area,
    land whose owner wants to build condominiums as well as a           and preserves the rest of the shoreline mostly in its present
    hotel, shops and restaurants. In keeping with the Coastal Act       form. Affordable housing is provided by requiring the replace-
    preference for visitor-serving uses at the beach, city planners ae  ment of existing affordable units whenever they are demolished.
    recommending against the condos. The plan should go to the            Los Alamitos: This area, partly within Long Beach and partly
    city Planning Commission in June.                                   unincorporated county territory at the east end of Long Beach,
      Venice canals and Marina peninsula: There is a sharp split        contains a wetland. Agreement on its preservation and develop-
    between those who want the old canals restored to their original,   ment has been reached with the major landowners and a plan is
    shallow, sandy-banked form and those who want them dredged          being prepared by Long Beach.
    and bulkheaded to allow boats to be docked at canal-front             Manhattan Beach: The land use plan portion of the plan has
                                                                        been approved by the regional coastal commission and is await-
                                             ;:. , z- ni~~    ......C5  ing consideration by the state commission. The basic issues are
                                                                        preservation of parking for beach visitors and housing. At the
                                                                        direction of the regional commission, the city agreed to restrict
                                                                        downtown density to preserve parking for beachgoers.
                                                                          The city is expected later to adopt a plan for a small area at its
                                                                        north end, known as El Porto, which it recently annexed from
                                                                        the county.
                                                                          Palos Verdes Estates: This plan, which covers a narrow strip
                                                                        about 4% miles long, was one of the least complicated for the
                                                                        regional and state commissions to deal with. Housing was not an
                                                                        issue since only five vacant lots remained when the plan was
                                                                        certified in 1979, and they were reserved for expensive single-
                                                                        family homes.

    Coastal plans involve Venice's Linnie Canal and sim-
    ilar waterways.
                                            s photo by Con Key

                                                                   37

      Access was the main issue, but the commissions agreed with         Santa Monica: The city's plan was submitted to the regional
    the city's proposals, including the finding that some existing     coastal commission earlier this year, but was withdrawn last
    pathways from the bluff tops to the rocky coves below were too     month after a slate of liberals was elected to the City Council.
    dangerous for continued use. The only significant condition im-    They plan to restore a strong affordable housing policy to the
    posed on the city was a change in its ordinance to allow pic-      plan, a policy earlier removed by the city Planning Commission.
    nicking in the bluff-top parks, a use previously forbidden.          Housing and beach parking are major issues, with a number of
      Rancho Palos Verdes: The state and regional commissions ap-      policies designed to preserve and enhance existing neighbor-
    plauded the city for preserving the views along much of its 7  -   hoods and encourage a mix of income levels, ages, races and
    mile sheer coastline, but required that it provide at least 200    ethnic backgrounds. No new beach parking is provided for, with
    units of affordable housing in its plan. The city's plan allowed   the emphasis on finding alternative means of transportation.
    construction of more than 500 units of very expensive new            Torrance: After once being denied by the regional coastal
    housing, much of it at a dwelling density averaging only one       commission, the city's plan recently was approved following
    unit per acre, maintaining the present suburban estate atmos-      slight alterations. One sticking point had been the city's policy
    phere. The city has refused to accept the commissions' condi-      on condominium conversions, which the commission wanted
    tions.                                                             strengthened to prevent conversions. But it settled for a state-
      Redondo Beach: Affordable housing and boat-launching and         ment from the city that by enforcing its present ordinance it had
    storage facilities are the major issues. The regional commission   not allowed any conversions in its narrow coastal zone and that
    approved the city's plan, but added conditions requiring protec-   it would continue to enforce the ordinance.
    tion of existing low-and moderately-priced housing from demo-        The city, however, did add a provision guaranteeing that it
    lition unless replacement housing is provided.                     would preserve half of its on-street parking in the coastal zone
      It also said that any development of a breakwater at King        for public use by not restricting it to residents only.
    Harbor known as "Mole B" must allow for eventual construction        The plan now goes to the state commission for consideration.
    of a trailer boat-launching ramp and parking lot. Dry boat stor-
    age also is to be one of the uses on a vacant five-acre site owned
    by Southern California Edison Co., if the site is developed.
      The city's plan now awaits action by the state commission.

    REPRINTED FROM THE LOS ANGELES TIMES, MONDAY, MAY  18, 1981                                            Co~ t 1981 Los Angees rimes

    Coast Panel's Stormy Watch

    on S.D. County

    BY MARK FORSTER
    Times Staff Writer

                                          I                                                                        I
      Much sweat and tears from bureaucrats, developers,                 The commissioners rejected the program, saying the
    environmentalists, farmers and residents had been                  county needed to preserve more farmland and require
    poured into writing the thick document designed to                 developers to build low-cost coastal housing.
    guide development along the coast between Leucadia                    That happened last month, but ask a planner from
    and Solana Beach.                                                  anywhere between Oceanside and Chula Vista and a
      The program had been pronounced a masterpiece                    similar story will likely be told about efforts to get a
    of compromise by the County Board of Supervisors                    coastal program approved by the California Coastal
    and San Diego Regional Coastal Commission and now                   Commission.
    it was before the 11 state coastal commissioners for fi-              Almost since the commission was created in 1973
    nal approval.                                                      by Proposition 20 to protect and preserve California's
      As Richard Empey, a graying, 50ish county planner,               coastline, local governments and the commission have
    stood before the state commissioners to argue for the              wrangled over two points:
    program he had nursed and nurtured, he stressed the                   How to balance development versus environmental
    hard work and compromise.                                          preservation, and who  best understands local plan-
      "You might not believe this," said Empey, a dead-                ning needs-the Coastal Commission or local govern-
    pan expression freezing his seamed face, "but I'm                  ments.
    only 27 years old. I was a young man when I started                   Now  the coastal planning process is nearing a
    this."                                                             watershed.
      The state commissioners chuckled quietly. But
    when the hearing finished two hours later, Empey
    and the county discovered the joke was on them.
                                                               38

      On July 1, the San Diego Regional Coastal Commis-      mission and completely eliminated from the program
    sion is scheduled to expire.                             by the state commission.
      Since 1973 its frequently changing cast, occupying       The hotel's future is still in doubt. The state com-
    six seats reserved for local elected officials and six for  mission upheld its first ruling last month after a San
    appointed public members, has reviewed six local         Diego judge ordered the commission to review its de-
    coastal programs and more than 9,000 building permit     cision.
    applications for private and public coastal projects.      Not all cities suffered such an experience. Corona-
      After July, the state commission will take over that   do's local coastal program was approved with few
    job until a local coastal program-a land-use plan and    changes by both regional and state commissions.
    ordinances to carry it out-has bean approved for ev-       But other communities in San Diego County have
    ery ery mile of San Diego Countey coastline.             stories similar to that of Chula Vista.
      Once the state commission approves a local coastal       Oceanside included in its coastal program a freeway
    program, it relinquishes permit authority to the local   running through the sensitive San Luis Rey River
    jurisdiction.                                            Valley.
      Although a number of important programs still            The state commission at first dropped the proposal
    must be approved by the state commission, a picture      from the plan.
    of San Diego's 76-mile long coast, and who is shaping      After Oceanside officials protested, the commission
    it, can be drawn as the demise of the regional com-      approved most of the program but removed the por-
    mission nears.                                           tion concerning the river valley so it can review any
      Although starting with the same Proposition 20         specific freeway proposal.
    blue print for San Diego's coastline, local governments    In Carlsbad, city officials became so upset over state
    and the Coastal Commission often have disagreed on       commission amendments to a plan for Aqua Hedion-
    how to hammer together the planks.                       da Lagoon that the city turned over planning for a
      The result has been widespread compromise in the       large chunk of the remainder of its coast directly to
    two-step hearing process for local coastal programs.     the commission.
    Programs must gain preliminary approval by the San         The city and the commission are still negotiating
    Diego Regional Commission followed by final appro-       differences in the Aqua Hedionda plan, which was
    val by the state commission.                             started in 1977.
       The compromises will result in greater public access     In San Dieguito, the state commission tentatively
    to beaches, protection of coastal views by preventing    has said the county's program to preserve half the re-
    Miami Beach-style high-rises, and protection of San      maining agricultural land is inadequate.
    Diego's lagoons, marshes and wetlands, according to        The regional commission staff originally recom-
     local government and commission officials.               mended preserving two-thirds of the land.
       Debates are continuing on policies to provide low-       Regional commissioners voted to override that pro-
     cost coastal housing and to preserve farmland; the im-   posal, but it is now being reviewed at the state level.
     pact of those decision will not likely be seen for years.  Roger Hedgecock twice voted to support the coun-
       Those familiar with San Diego coastal planning         ty's program, once as a county supervisor and again
     agreed that the regional commission, made up of San      as regional coastal commissioner.
     Diego area officials and citizens, has been sympathetic    Hedgecock described as "absolutist regulations" the
     to programs for local development.                       state commission's guidelines on preserving farmland
       In a few critical instances, however, a different      and mandating inclusion of low-cost housing units in
     body of state coastal commissioners tipped the balance   new residential developments.
     in favor of environmental protection when making fi-       "We are attempting to translate the (coastal) act
     nal decisions on San Diego area plans.                   into a workable local solution," he said.
       For example, the state commission eliminated a ma-       Hedgecock argues that the state doesn't understand
     jor coastal hotel in the South Bay, discouraged a pro-   San Diego coastal economics.
     posed North County freeway and suggested the coun-         But Hedgecock understands San Diego politics. His
     ty preserve more San Dieguito farmland than it in-       constituents were vocal and visible backers of the
     tended.                                                  county plan.
       "On balance," said Will Hyde, mayor of Chula Vis-        Such political pressure on local officials sitting on
     ta and a regional coastal commissioner, "the coastline   the regional commission is cited by some environ-
     will be less than what the most ardent environmenta-     mentalists in support of the state Coastal Commission,
     list hoped for but a far cry from what could have        which they say is more insulated from politics.
     happened if there had been no coastal plan."               "Probably the people on the regional commission
       While local governments have played significant        are under local pressure, although most are very
     roles in shaping their coastlines, Hyde added, "On       forthright and honest," said Harriet Allen, a retired
     controversial issues there has been inevitable modifi-   San Diego educator who is a public member of both
     cation of local programs to make them less intensive     the regional and state commissions.
     of development."
       Hyde speaks from experience.
       Chula Vista's original proposal for a 700-room hotel
     in the environmentally sensitive Sweetwater Marsh
     was knocked down to 300 rooms by the regional com-
                                                            39

      'The state commission is not more environmentally         In the San Dieguito program, the regional commis-
    oriented but more law-oriented," she said. "The state    sion allowed voluntary housing guidelines rather than
    commission looks at each decision as it might in-    mandatory rules, a decision the state commission in-
    fluence decisions up and down the state."                 dicated last month it might overrule.
      "The state commission is freer of some pressures          "It can't be an exercise in utopian theory," Cohelan
    and has a broader picture," said Lois Ewen of Corona-     said of coastal planning. "It's a very practical exercise.
    do, a former commissioner. '"I won't say it knows bet-    At times it's a mundale process of taking this coastal
    ter. They (state commissioners) listen to regional con-    community block by block and I can't even tell you
    cerns."                                                   it's been consistent. But we've tried."
      Timothy Cohelan, a San Diego attorney and chair-          Cohelan argued that the regional commission's
    man of the regional commission, acknowledged that    greatest impact in shaping San Diego's coastline is the
    politics is part of the regional commission, both in    thousands of building permits it has issued that have
    and out of meetings.                                      not been appealed to the state commission.
      "You get the mail, the calls," said Cohelan, who has      Tom Crandall, executive director of the regional
    a picture of himself and Gov. Edmund G. Brown Jr.    commission, also argues that existing development has
    hanging on his office wall. "I get lobbied in the ele-    given local governments greater influence in what the
    vator.                                                    coastline will look like.
      "There is a little bit of legislative courtesy," he con-  "So much of the coast is urbanized already and the
    tinued. "It's sort of understood if you're from Ocean-    pattern of how it will look is very much established,"
    side and you have a problem that requires periodic    said Crandall, who supervises a staff of nine youthful
    review of the commission, you don't stick the knife in    planners in their late 20s and early 30s.
    Chula Vista because Mayor Hyde is sitting there."           "Local governments have had and will continue to
      But disagreements between the regional and state    have the biggest effect on what the coastal zone looks
    commissions often stem from policy questions and not    like," Crandall said, "with the state commission's ef-
    political pressures, Cohelan said.                       fect on the immediate shoreline or natural environ-
      Cohelan took the lead locally in challenging the    ments like the Sweetwater Marsh, North County la-
    state commission's requirement that low-cost housing    goons, or Tia Juana River Valley."
    units be a required part of any new residential devel-      Even Carlsbad Mayor Ron Packard, a frequently ex-
    opment.                                                   asperated local official when he appears before the
      Cohelan and others have argued that developers    Coastal Commission, agreed with Crandall.
    should be allowed to build more units than normally         'I've tried to make the commission realize," Pack-
    allowed if some are voluntarily set aside for poorer    ard said, "the beautiful coast of Carlsbad was pre-
    families.                                                served long before the commission came into being.

    One project which won the approval of the California Coastal Commission was downtown San Diego's Sea-
    port Village complex.                                                                     Tim poto by John Domugh

                                                         40

    as beach access, preservation of scenic areas, and threatened       homes. City planners are recommending the shallow, sandy-
    development of thousands of small lots.                             banked versions and expect opposition all the way to the Coastal
      Malibu is a stronghold of opposition to expanded public access    Commission.
    to beaches and the area's new county supervisor, Deane Dana,          The issue along the peninsula is what to do with the narrow
    recently blocked efforts to open to the public several beaches al-  walkstreets, many of which iemain unpaved. City fire officials
    ready owned by the state and the county.                            say they must be widened if 45-foot building heights proposed
                                                                        by planners are to be allowed. Some residents fear that widening
                      City of Los Angeles                               and paving the streets will ruin the atmosphere of the neighbor-
                                                                        hood.
      The city of Los Angeles is preparing seven local coastal pro-       Affordable housing is another major issue. The city owns a
    grams, all of which it hopes will go to the city Planning Comrn-    number of peninsula lots it acquired through tax defaults years
    mission for action by November. Once the plans have the Plan-       ago, and would encourage developers to build low-income
    ning Commission's blessing, plus that of the City Council's         housing on them.
    Planning Committee, they will be put before the Coastal Com-          Venice, north beach area: This plan is in its early stages with
    mission and the full City Council simultaneously-a novel ap-        major issues being affordable housing, preservation of beach ac-
    proach. Beginning at the south and moving north, they are:          cess, limited parking and allowable uses of the oceanfront walk.
      San Pedro: Provision of affordable housing by offering greater      Venice, inland area No work has begun on this plan, but
    housing density to builders as an incentive is an aspect of this    preservation of affordable housing will be the major issue.
    plan, which is nearing completion. The thrust of the plan is to       Pacific Palisades: No work has been done on this plan. City
    preserve the residential, low-density, multi-ethnic, maritime-or-   planners say it presents no complex problems, but regional
    iented flavor of this seaport area.                                 coastal commission staffers say the issues to be resolved include
      Three large parcels of Ft. MacArthur land, which have been        protection against geologic hazards, access to mountain trails,
    deeded to the city but can be recalled to military use at any time,  preservation of views, beach-related uses and scales of develop-
    also must be planned for. The plan also seeks to preserve coastal   ment.
    access for low-income persons by discouraging fees for publicly       El Segundo: Expansion and intensification of energy facilities
    owned beach facilities.                                             are the basic thrusts of this city's plan, which covers a narrow
      Airport Dunes: This area is west of Los Angeles International     ribbon of land less than a mile long and no more than 200 yards
    Airport and once contained about 800 homes before they were         wide. Most of it is taken up by an electrical generating station
    bought and carted away to leave vacant land as an airport buf-      owned by Southern California Edison Co., and the on-shore
    fer. The issue is how much of the dunes area shall be preserved     portion of a marine tanker terminal operated by Chevron Oil Co.
    as dunes and how much shall the airport authority be allowed to        Existing public access along the shore via a bicycle path will
    turn into a golf course.                                            be preserved. The plan was approved by the state commission
      The dunes are the only significant dunes left in the Southland    last September.
    and are home to upwards of 2,000 endangered El Segundo blue           Hermosa Beach: The city submitted its land use plan to the
    butterflies. A draft plan is to be completed in a month, but no     regional commission a year ago. But the plan was withdrawn
    target date has been set for the final version.                     before it could be considered after local residents apparently be-
      Playa del Rey: This plan is the one nearest completion among      came concerned it would allow or require urban renewal. The
    those being prepared by the city. The greatest controversy has      plan has not been resubmitted. Issues include lack of parking for
    surrounded the Del Rey Lagoon area where planners are seeking       beach-goers, development on two vacant lots and preservation of
    to preserve the present pedestrian-oriented village atmosphere      affordable housing. Regional coastal commission staffers noted
    while allowing for replacement of old, small duplexes with lar-     that the latest drafts of the plan are even more vague than the
    ger units.                                                          earlier version, which they considered too vague.
      Builders who agree to add a moderately priced unit to replace-      Long Beach: This was the first city in the county and the first,
    ment duplexes would be allowed to build larger units as an in-      and so far only, major city in the state to complete its plan and
    centive-a strategy intended to provide affordable housing in        begin administering its own coastal permits. The plan concen-
    this area where 75% of the residents are renters.                   trates new development in the downtown shoreline area, allows
      Another controversy surrounds a parcel of vacant beachfront       a few high-rise residential buildings east of the downtown area,
    land whose owner wants to build condominiums as well as a           and preserves the rest of the shoreline mostly in its present
    hotel, shops and restaurants. In keeping with the Coastal Act       form. Affordable housing is provided by requiring the replace-
    preference for visitor-serving uses at the beach, city planners are  ment of existing affordable units whenever they are demolished.
    recommending against the condos. The plan should go to the            Los Alamitos: This area, partly within Long Beach and partly
    city Planning Commission in June.                                   unincorporated county territory at the east end of Long Beach,
      Venice canals and Marina peninsula: There is a sharp split        contains a wetland. Agreement on its preservation and develop-
    between those who want the old canals restored to their original,   ment has been reached with the major landowners and a plan is
    shallow, sandy-banked form and those who want them dredged          being prepared by Long Beach.
    and bulkheaded to allow boats to be docked at canal-front             Manhattan Beach: The land use plan portion of the plan has
                                                                       been approved by the regional coastal commission and is await-
                                                                       ing consideration by the state commission. The basic issues are
                                                    ..H     :; _ Sg~preservation of parking for beach visitors and housing. At the
                                                                       direction of the regional commission, the city agreed to restrict
                            -: ~'~;  i;  T a_ 'downtown density to preserve parking for beachgoers.
                                                                         The city is expected later to adopt a plan for a small area at its
                                                                       north end, known as El Porto, which it recently annexed from
                                                                       the county.
                                                                         Palos Verdes Estates: This plan, which covers a narrow strip
                                                                       about 4% miles long, was one of the least complicated for the
                                                                       regional and state commissions to deal with. Housing was not an
                                                                       issue since only five vacant lots remained when the plan was
                                                                       certified in 1979, and they were reserved for expensive single-
                                                                       family homes.

    Coastal plans involve Venice's Linnie Canal and sim-
    ilar waterways.
                                            T    photo by Con Ky37

                                                                   37

      Access was the main issue, but the commissions agreed with         Santa Monica: The city's plan was submitted to the regional
    the city's proposals, including the finding that some existing     coastal commission earlier this year, but was withdrawn last
    pathways from the bluff tops to the rocky coves below were too     month after a slate of liberals was elected to the City Council.
    dangerous for continued use. The only significant condition im-    They plan to restore a strong affordable housing policy to the
    posed on the city was a change in its ordinance to allow pic-      plan, a policy earlier removed by the city Planning Commission.
    nicking in the bluff-top parks, a use previously forbidden.          Housing and beach parking are major issues, with a number of
      Rancho Palos Verdes: The state and regional commissions ap-      policies designed to preserve and enhance existing neighbor-
    plauded the city for preserving the views along much of its 7 % -  hoods and encourage a mix of income levels, ages, races and
    mile sheer coastline, but required that it provide at least 200    ethnic backgrounds. No new beach parking is provided for, with
    units of affordable housing in its plan. The city's plan allowed   the emphasis on finding alternative means of transportation.
    construction of more than 500 units of very expensive new            Torrance: After once being denied by the regional coastal
    housing, much of it at a dwelling density averaging only one       commission, the city's plan recently was approved following
    unit per acre, maintaining the present suburban estate atmos-      slight alterations. One sticking point had been the city's policy
    phere. The city has refused to accept the commissions' condi-      on condominium conversions, which the commission wanted
    tions.                                                             strengthened to prevent conversions. But it settled for a state-
      Redondo Beach: Affordable housing and boat-launching and         ment from the city that by enforcing its present ordinance it had
    storage facilities are the major issues. The regional commission   not allowed any conversions in its narrow coastal zone and that
    approved the city's plan, but added conditions requiring protec-   it would continue to enforce the ordinance.
    tion of existing low-and moderately-priced housing from demo-        The city, however, did add a provision guaranteeing that it
    lition unless replacement housing is provided.                     would preserve half of its on-street parking in the coastal zone
      It also said that any development of a breakwater at King        for public use by not restricting it to residents only.
    Harbor known as "Mole B" must allow for eventual construction        The plan now goes to the state commission for consideration.
    of a trailer boat-launching ramp and parking lot. Dry boat stor-
    age also is to be one of the uses on a vacant five-acre site owned
    by Southern California Edison Co., if the site is developed.
      The city's plan now awaits action by the state commission.

    REPRINTED FROM THE LOS ANGELES TIMES, MONDAY, MAY  18, 1981                                            Copyright 1981 Los Angees Tes

    Coast Panel's Stormy Watch

    on S.D. County

    BY MARK FORSTER
    Times Staff Writer

      Much sweat and tears from bureaucrats, developers,                 The commissioners rejected the program, saying the
    environmentalists, farmers and residents had been                  county needed to preserve more farmland and require
    poured into writing the thick document designed to                 developers to build low-cost coastal housing.
    guide development along the coast between Leucadia                    That happened last month, but ask a planner from
    and Solana Beach.                                                  anywhere between Oceanside and Chula Vista and a
      The program had been pronounced a masterpiece                    similar story will likely be told about efforts to get a
    of compromise by the County Board of Supervisors                   coastal program  approved by the California Coastal
    and San Diego Regional Coastal Commission and now                  Commission.
    it was before the 11 state coastal commissioners for fi-              Almost since the commission was created in 1973
    nal approval.                                                      by Proposition 20 to protect and preserve California's
      As Richard Empey, a graying, 50ish county planner,               coastline, local governments and the commission have
    stood before the state commissioners to argue for the              wrangled over two points:
    program he had nursed and nurtured, he stressed the                   How to balance development versus environmental
    hard work and compromise.                                          preservation, and who  best understands local plan-
      "You might not believe this," said Empey, a dead-                ning needs-the Coastal Commission or local govern-
    pan expression freezing his seamed face, "but I'm                  ments.
    only 27 years old. I was a young man when I started                   Now  the coastal planning process is nearing a
    this."   *                                                         watershed.
      The state commissioners chuckled quietly. But
    when the hearing finished two hours later, Empey
    and the county discovered the joke was on them.
                                                               38

      On July 1, the San Diego Regional Coastal Commis-     mission and completely eliminated from the program
    sion is scheduled to expire.                            by the state commission.
      Since 1973 its frequently changing cast, occupying      The hotel's future is still in doubt. The state corn-
    six seats reserved for local elected officials and six for    mission upheld its first ruling last month after a San
    appointed public members, has reviewed six local        Diego judge ordered the commission to review its de-
    coastal programs and more than 9,000 building permit    cision.
    applications for private and public coastal projects.      Not all cities suffered such an experience. Corona-
      After July, the state commission will take over that  do's local coastal program was approved with few
    job until a local coastal program-a land-use plan and   changes by both regional and state commissions.
    ordinances to carry it out-has been approved for ev-       But other communities in San Diego County have
    ery ery mile of San Diego County's coastline.           stories similar to that of Chula Vista.
      Once the state commission approves a local coastal      Oceanside included in its coastal program a freeway
    program, it relinquishes permit authority to the local  running through the sensitive San Luis Rey River
    jurisdiction.                                           Valley.
      Although a number of important programs still           The state commission at first dropped the proposal
    must be approved by the state commission, a picture     from the plan.
    of San Diego's 76-mile long coast, and who is shaping      After Oceanside officials protested, the commission
    it, can be drawn as the demise of the regional corn-    approved most of the program but removed the por-
    mission nears.                                          tion concerning the river valley so it can review any
      Although starting with the same Proposition 20        specific freeway proposal.
    blue print for San Diego's coastline, local governments    In Carlsbad, city officials became so upset over state
    and the Coastal Commission often have disagreed on      commission amendments to a plan for Aqua Hedion-
    how to hammer together the planks.                      da Lagoon that the city turned over planning for a
      The result has been widespread compromise in the      large chunk of the remainder of its coast directly to
    two-step hearing process for local coastal programs.    the commission.
    Programs must gain preliminary approval by the San         The city and the commission are still negotiating
    Diego Regional Commission followed by final appro-      differences in the Aqua Hedionda plan, which was
    val by the state commission.                            started in 1977.
      The compromises will result in greater public access    In San Dieguito, the state commission tentatively
    to beaches, protection of coastal views by preventing   has said the county's program to preserve half the re-
    Miami Beach-style high-rises, and protection of San     maining agricultural land is inadequate.
    Diego's lagoons, marshes and wetlands, according to        The regional commission staff originally recoin-
    local government and commission officials.              mended preserving two-thirds of the land.
      Debates are continuing on policies to provide low-      Regional commissioners voted to override that pro-
    cost coastal housing and to preserve farmland; the im-  posal, but it is now being reviewed at the state level.
    pact of those decision will not likely be seen for years.  Roger Hedgecock twice voted to support the coun-
      Those familiar with San Diego coastal planning        ty's program, once as a county supervisor and again
    agreed that the regional commission, made up of San     as regional coastal commissioner.
    Diego area officials and citizens, has been sympathetic    Hedgecock described as "absolutist regulations" the
    to programs for local development.                      state commission's guidelines on preserving farmland
      In a few critical instances, however, a different     and mandating inclusion of low-cost housing units in
    body of state coastal commissioners tipped the balance   new residential developments.
    in favor of environmental protection when making fi-       "We are attempting to translate the (coastal) act
    nal decisions on San Diego area plans.                  into a workable local solution," he said.
      For example, the state commission eliminated a ma-      Hedgecock argues that the state doesn't understand
    jor coastal hotel in the South Bay, discouraged a pro-  San Diego coastal economics.
    posed North County freeway and suggested the coun-         But Hedgecock understands San Diego politics. His
    ty preserve more San Dieguito farmland than it in-      constituents were vocal and visible backers of the
    tended.                                                 county plan.
      "On balance," said Will Hyde, mayor of Chula Vis-       Such political pressure on local officials sitting on
    ta and a regional coastal commissioner, "the coastline  the regional commission is cited by some environ-
    will be less than what the most ardent environmenta-    mentalists in support of the state Coastal Commission,
    list hoped for but a far cry from what could have       which they say is more insulated from politics.
    happened if there had been no coastal plan."               "Probably the people on the regional commission
      While local governments have played significant       are under local pressure, although most are very
    roles in shaping their coastlines, Hyde added, "On      forthright and honest," said Harriet Allen, a retired
    controversial issues there has been inevitable modifi-  San Diego educator who is a public member of both
    cation of local programs to make them less intensive    the regional and state commissions.
    of development."
      Hyde speaks from experience.
      Chula Vista's original proposal for a 700-room hotel
    in the environmentally sensitive Sweetwater Marsh
    was knocked down to 300 rooms by the regional com-
                                                         39

      '"The state commission is not more environmentally        In the San Dieguito program, the regional commis-
    oriented but more law-oriented," she said. "The state    sion allowed voluntary housing guidelines rather than
    commission looks at each decision as it might in-    mandatory rules, a decision the state commission in-
    fluence decisions up and down the state."                 dicated last month it might overrule.
      "The state commission is freer of some pressures          'It can't be an exercise in utopian theory," Cohelan
    and has a broader picture," said Lois Ewen of Corona-    said of coastal planning. "It's a very practical exercise.
    do, a former commissioner. "I won't say it knows bet-    At times it's a mundale process of taking this coastal
    ter. They (state commissioners) listen to regional con-    community block by block and I can't even tell you
    cerns."                                                  it's been consistent. But we've tried."
      Timothy Cohelan, a San Diego attorney and chair-          Cohelan argued that the regional commission's
    man of the regional commission, acknowledged that    greatest impact in shaping San Diego's coastline is the
    politics is part of the regional commission, both in    thousands of building permits it has issued that have
    and out of meetings.                                      not been appealed to the state commission.
      "You get the mail, the calls," said Cohelan, who has      Tom Crandall, executive director of the regional
    a picture of himself and Gov. Edmund G. Brown Jr.    commission, also argues that existing development has
    hanging on his office wall. "I get lobbied in the ele-    given local governments greater influence in what the
    vator.                                                    coastline will look like.
      "There is a little bit of legislative courtesy," he con-  "So much of the coast is urbanized already and the
    tinued. "It's sort of understood if you're from Ocean-    pattern of how it will look is very much established,"
    side and you have a problem that requires periodic    said Crandall, who supervises a staff of nine youthful
    review of the commission, you don't stick the knife in    planners in their late 20s and early 30s.
    Chula Vista because Mayor Hyde is sitting there."           "Local governments have had and will continue to
      But disagreements between the regional and state    have the biggest effect on what the coastal zone looks
    commissions often stem from policy questions and not    like," Crandall said, "with the state commission's ef-
    political pressures, Cohelan said.                       fect on the immediate shoreline or natural environ-
      Cohelan took the lead locally in challenging the    ments like the Sweetwater Marsh, North County la-
    state commission's requirement that low-cost housing    goons, or Tia Juana River Valley."
    units be a required part of any new residential devel-      Even Carlsbad Mayor Ron Packard, a frequently ex-
    opment.                                                   asperated local official when he appears before the
      Cohelan and others have argued that developers    Coastal Commission, agreed with Crandall.
    should be allowed to build more units than normally         'I've tried to make the commission realize," Pack-
    allowed if some are voluntarily set aside for poorer    ard said, "the beautiful coast of Carlsbad was pre-
    families.                                                served long before the commission came into being.

    One project which won the approval of the California Coastal Commission was downtown San Diego's Sea-
    port Village complex.                                                                     Tmes photo by John McDonou~ h

                                                         40

      "'The commission has had -some influence, but not                   La Jolla and La Jolla Shores: Local coastal program approved
    nearly as sigficant as some would like to believe."                 by state commission and acceptable to the city. Limits size of
      Following is a north-to-south listing of San Die          o       buildings in commercial strips at La Jolla Shores Commercial
                                                                        Center and along Nautilus Street and La Jolla Boulevard near
    CouPn~ty commulnities, the startus8 of their local coastal           Bird Rock. Protects Mt. Soledad slopes and preserves scenic
    programs and a brief desciption of major issues.                    views from Mt. Soledad, Torrey Pines, Coast Walk and Pottery
      Local communities will receive permit authority                   Canyon Park. Requires maintenance and improvement of 28 sites
    Over their coastlines once the Califosnia Coastal Comn-              that permit beach access for the public and encourages tourist-
    mission approves a local coastal program, which in-                 oriented facilities in La Jolla. Encourages greater public trans-
                                                                        portation and pedestrian traffic.
    cludes a land-use plan and ordinances designed to                      Mission Beach: Local coastal program approved by the state
    carry out the program.                                              commission and acceptable to the city. Reduced density and lim-
      Oceansidet. Local coastal program approved by the Regional        its height of new residential construction. Santa Clara Place area
    Coastal Commission and conditionally approved by the state          will remain the major neighborhood commercial center. The
    Coastal Commission. The San Luis Rey River Valley segment of         Plunge Building is supposed to be retained and remain in ser-
    the program has been deleted by the state because of disagree-      vice.
    ment over a freeway the city is seeking to have built there. The       Point Loma and Center City: Plans to be heard May 22.
    program calls for mandatory low-cost housing in new residen-           Barrio Logan: Local coastal program approved by the state
    tial construction and limits development along the beachfront       commission and acceptable to the city. It provides for renovating
    roadway, the Strand.                                                existing housing and commercial buildings along Logan Avenue
      Carlsbad: The city has been divided into three segments:          and Main Street, and rehabilitation of the Rigel Street industrial
      -Aqua Hedionda Lagoon: Local coastal program conditional-         site to lessen noise and air pollution. Also provided for is a new
    ly approved by the state Coastal Commission. The city and com-      55-acre industrial park at existing railroad yards near 10th
    mission are negotiating over whether to include mandatory low-      Avenue terminal. The plan calls for access to San Diego Bay at
    cost housing requirements. Program protects wetland areas and        Chollas Creek.
    provides for tourist-oriented businesses.                              Tia Juana River Valley: Local coastal program approved by
      -Carlsbad Special Area No. 1: Local coastal program pre-          the state commission and acceptable to the city. Preserves 1,400
    pared and approved by state commission under special legisla-       acres of prime agricultural land between Interstate 5 and the
    tion for 1,000 acres of agricultural land between Interstate 5 and   mouth of the Tia Juana River. Protects the Tia Juana River. Al-
    El Camino Real north of Batiquitos Lagoon. Program requires          lows a small amount of commercial and residential development
    approval by Carlsbad but city objects to state's proposals for pre-  between Interstate 5 and the Imperial Beach city boundary.
    serving agricultural land and requiring low-cost housing. City         Coronado: Local coastal program approved by the state com-
    also objects to the wording of implementing ordinances.              mission and acceptable to the city. Allows for luxury condomini-
      -Carlsbad Special Area No. 2L Local coastal program pre-          um project on old ferry landing site, provides access to San Die-
    pared by the state commission under special legislation for the     go Bay and incorporates city's condominium conversion policy to
    bulk of the Carlsbad coastline except Aqua Hedionda Lagoon          protect low-cost housing units.
    and 1,000 acres near Batiquitos Lagoon. Action pending before          National City: Local coastal program will not be completed
    the state commission. The city and the commission disagree on       before July. The plan will be submitted directly to the state com-
    low-cost housing and agricultural preservation policies.             mission.
      San Dieguito: Local coastal program covering 11,000 acres be-        Imperial Beach: Local coastal program will not be completed
    tween Carlsbad and Del Mar has been approved by the regional         before July. The plan will be submitted directly to the state com-
    commission and action is pending before the state commission.        mission.
    About 7,000 acres is already in residential development. The           Port of San Diego: Planning jurisdiction returned to the port
    state commission approved commercial and light industrial strips     by the state commission last January after master plan was ap-
    along Old Highway 101 but rejected the county's plan to pre-         proved. State commission, however, retains jurisdiction over 5.4-
    serve half of the remaining agricultural land and a voluntary        acre Barrio Logan site and 53 acres of Coronado tidelands.
    program to encourage developers to build low-cost housing.             The commission wants a park built in Barrio Logan while the
    Development is limited along San Elijo and Batiquitos lagoons        port wants site used for marine-related industrial works.
    and ocean bluffs.

                                                                    41

    REPRINTED FROM THE LOS ANGELES TIMES, MONDAY, MAY 18, 1981                              Covwyg* 1961 Los Angda Tkns

    Coastal Programs in

    Orange County Lag

    BY LESLIE BERKMAN
    Times Staff Wnter

                       I    I   I         I   I                 II                                     ,I1

      Eight years ago, voters created the California Coast-   lacks implementation ordinances, which are required
    al Commission and gave it control over development        before the Coastal Commission will consider the work
    along the state's entire coastline-a power that had       complete.
    previously belonged to local governments and one            A total local coastal program, the Coastal Commis-
    that cities and counties have longed to regain.           sion says, must consist of a landuse plan, ordinances
      Particularly in Orange County, whose political          and a local governmental mechanism for administer-
    bodies have jealously cherished the tenet of home         ing coastal permit applications.
    rule, resentment toward the commission has been             Of Orange County's cities, only Irvine, which has
    strong.                                                   little land within the state-defined coastal zone, has
      But Orange County may soon be back in the driv-         obtained the Coastal Commission's certification of its
    er's seat in making the primary decisions about its 40    entire coastal program.
    miles of diverse coastline. Under provisions of a 1976      Furthest behind is Laguna Beach, which has not
    state law, Orange County, like other local govern-        even published the first draft of its landuse plan for
    ments throughout the state, can win back that control     review by the public and elected city officials.
    if it writes and adopts programs for future coastal         The planning has not come free. By the time the
    development that gain the Coastal Commission's ap-        job is done, coastal governments in Orange County
    proval.                                                   will have received about $1 million in state and feder-
      Once the Coastal Commission certifies these pro-       al reimbursements, according to the current allocation
    grams, builders no longer will ask the commission's       schedules.
    approval of projects they want to construct on the Or-       Some local planners question whether all this state-
    ange County coast. Instead, the builders will seek        mandated effort is worthwhile. They observe-and
    their permits from the county and cities, which will      state planners concur-that for many years Orange
    use the coastal programs' landuse plans as guidelines     County has been unusually zealous in requiring open
    in granting or denying builders' requests.                space in new developments and making beaches more
      For three years the county government and the           accessible to the public, both important objectives of
    county's seven coastal cities have drawn their own        the Coastal Initiative and the subsequent 1976 Coastal
    staffs, citizens and consultants into a coastal planning  Act.
    process that has begun to spew out mounds of doc-           Most observers agree, however, that the Coastal Act
    uments.                                                   -buttressed by the California Environmental Quality
      In recent months, final drafts of landuse plans have    Act and other state and federal policies of the last de-
    emerged for public review and consideration by city       cade-has forced local-governments to concentrate on
    and county planning commissions, councils and the         such sensitive issues as affordable housing and the
    Orange County Board of Supervisors.                       preservation of wetlands.
      After the plans are adopted locally, they are sent to     Peter Herman, aide to County Supervisor Thomas
    the South Coast Regional Coastal Commission for           Riley, whose district includes the county's rapidly
    preliminary approval, then on to the state Coastal        developing southern coastline, praises the Coastal
    Commission for final action. After the state's six re-    Commission for helping the county obtain commit-
    gional commissions are legally dissolved July 1, only     ments from developers for open space and tourist fa-
    the state panel will review the plans.                    cilities in Dana Point, Laguna Niguel and on the Ir-
      Although July 1 also is the legal deadline for local    vine Coast.
    governments to have their coastal programs approved          In repeated efforts to draft a plan for the Irvine
    by the Coastal Commission, the great majority of          Coast acceptable to the Coastal Commission, the Ir-
    planning in Orange County, as elsewhere in the state,     vine Co. has agreed to dedicate for public use 2,600
    will not be certified by then.                            acres of scenic canyons meant to augment the state's
      The county's local governments have been slowed         newly acquired 2,398-acre Crystal Cove State Park.
    in their planning endeavors by staff turnover, the re-
    quirement for citizen participation and the sheer com-
    plexity of the task.
      Most coastal planning done so far in the county
                                                         42

      While grateful for the Coastal Commission's sup-      shops with the need to "buy" open space for parks or
    port in the area of open space, Herman and other    a cultural center.
    county officials bitterly condemn the commission for      By contrast, few San Clemente citizens have attend-
    what they call "social engineering," especially the    ed a series of public hearings on that city's coastal
    commission's involvement in mandating low- to    plan. Representatives of John Lusk & Son have been
    moderate-income housing on the coast.                   there. They are concerned about the development of
      It is questionable whether Orange County's local    the company's 400-acre Reeves Ranch.
    officials yearn to recapture control over the coast so    "Unless people are affected directly, they don't
    strongly that they will, for example, accept resale con-    show up," San Clemente Planning Director Jim Law-
    trols on lower-cost housing or demand that locked-    son observed.
    gate communities provide public access to beaches.        To try to avert a standoff with the Coastal Commis-
      Although the Coastal Commission staff has stressed    sion on local coastal programs, local government
    its belief that resale controls on affordable housing are    planners and citizen groups have been consulting
    vital to coastal planning San Clemente's is the only    periodically with the commission's staff.
    government in the county so far willing to endorse        In the past, the commission staff often recommend-
    the concept.                                            ed approval of locally adopted coastal plans subject to
      From another perspective, the coastal planning ef-    certain modifications to offset some environmentally
    fort has given the county and cities an opportunity to    adverse impacts they were concerned about. The corn-
    tend to some purely local needs:                        missioners would then decide which, if any, of the
      -Huntington Beach is taking another shot at revi-    changes they would impose on the plans.
    talizing its long-languishing downtown. The city also     But this procedure was altered after a Superior
    has embarked on a program to improve Bolsa Chica    Court judge ruled in Chula Vista's case last December
    State Beach. It has obtained grants to build a bike trail    that the Coastal Commission could not place binding
    on the bluff above the beach and for beach access    conditions on local coastal programs and could only
    ramps. A proposed ordinance would require oil com-      vote to approve or deny the proposals as submitted
    panies that operate pumps on the beach to camou-        by local governments.
    flage their rigs with landscaping and bury their pipe-    So now the commission staff, after receiving a local
    lines. City officials also am considering zoning to pre-    coastal landuse plan, reviews it and then sends often-
    serve access to oil beneath land sold for development.  extensive lists of suggested changes back to the au-
      -Laguna Beach is considering measures to protect    thorizing city or county.
    the contours of its picturesque hills from an imminent    The Coastal Commission staffs suggestions are cast
    onslaught of residential development and is looking    in the tone of an ultimatum. If a city or county re-
    into ways to better manage traffic and parking.         fuses to alter its plan, the staff will recommend that it
      -Newport Beach is striving to increase public ac-   . be rejected.
    cess to commercial portions of its bayfront and to en-    Orange County's Board of Supervisors submitted to
    courage the establishment of more marine-related en-    the South Coast Regional Coastal Commission propo-
    terprises on the bay rather than more restaurants and   sals for 10 of its planning areas and in turn received a
    office buildings.                                       3-inch stack of reports detailing the Coastal Commis-
      -San Clemente officials, concerned about deaths    sion staff's complaints.
    resulting from people having to walk over railroad        The county immediately requested postponement of
    tracks to reach the beach, are looking into the possi-    the regional commission's hearing on the plans and
    bility of installing crossing signals to warn of ap-    began marathon negotiations with the Coastal Com-
    proaching trains.                                       mission's staff to iron out as many areas of dispute as
      The mandate that citizens participate in coastal    possible.
    planning has been met in Orange County with vary-         But not every local government is so willing to ne-
    ing degrees of success.                                 gotiate. Huntington Beach received an 18-page list of
      In Dana Point, residents including landowners,    objections when it submitted its coastal landuse plan
    homeowners and businessmen seemed to welcome            to the South Coast Regional Coastal Commission, but
    the chance to confer with county officials who, they    it went ahead and asked for a vote anyway. Last week
    felt, had neglected the area in the past. They were in-    the regional panel narrowly rejected the plan.
    strumental in writing a plan to direct the develop-       Huntington Beach Councilman Ron Pattinson, an-
    ment of their community, which they complained    gered by the Coastal Commission staff's treatment of
    had previously occurred haphazardly.                    the city's plan, complained: "We have spent almost
      Droves of citizens attended meetings in Seal Beach    three years doing a local coastal plan with a lot of
    to work with the state Coastal Conservancy in plan-    public input, and now the commission staff has (rec-
    ning an innovative mix of public and private devel-    ommended revising) it so it doesn't look like our plan
    opment for 10 acres beside the San Gabriel River    at all ... My biggest concern is that we should have
    channel that the city hopes to buy from the Los An-     local control."
    geles Department of Water and Power.
      As a lesson in the practical economics of land plan-
    ning, the Seal Beach group one evening played a
    board game in which players had to balance construc-
    tion of money-making condominiums and retail
                                                        43

    It wasn't especially warm (65 degrees) at Newport Beach Sunday, but the water was nice (64 degrees),
    the skies were blue and the beaches were crowded with 100,000  people.  Newport Pier fishermen were
    shoulder to shoulder.                                                                    rTn.  pbhoto by D i awne

      In meetings between the Coastal Commission staff         "It is demoralizing for city planning because it de-
    and local planners, the major points of difference are    mands that delapidated units stay in existence," he
    becoming clear.                                          complained.
      Orange County, for instance, has refused to adopt         County and city officials have expressed hope that
    the. Coastal Commission's policy that sand dredged       state legislation will be enacted this year to remove
    from coastal river bottodis must be used to replenish    affordable housing from the Coastal Commission's
    beaches. The county has gone to court to fight for a      purview. Another possibility, they note, is that the
    right to sell sand removed from San Juan Creek as a      changing composition of the state Coastal Commission
    flood control measure.                                    may sway the majority opinion on the panel in their
      Also, the Board of Supervisors has refused to budge    favor.
    from its opposition to resale controls on lower-cost        If the commission's policies and powers remain in-
    housing built without government subsidy, although       tact, however, local governments in Orange County
    the Coastal Commission has maintained that such           are sure to face a showdown on the housing issue.
    controls are necessary to protect the housing from          Another emotionally charged issue confronting sev-
    speculators.                                             eral Orange County cities and the county Board of
      Orange County staff members fashioned a com-           Supervisors is how to respond to the Coastal Act's in-
    promise with the Coastal Commission staff on affor-       sistence that they promote public access to the beach.
    dable housing, only to see the new proposal-includ-         In Huntington Beach, concern has been raised that
    ing a provision for resale controls--aborted by the su-  construction of proposed six-story structures, on and
    pervisors. Around the supervisors' offices the pro-      near the city pier would block ocean views.
    posed compromise was nicknamed "the devil's deal."          In Newport Beach, a proposal to extend the existing
      The county and coastal cities sometimes also disa-     3-mile Balboa Peninsula boardwalk along additional
    gree with other Coastal Commission housing policies       beachfront homes was squelched when protesting res-
    regulating condominium conversions and requiring a        idents filled the city Planning Commission meeting
    portion of most new housing-usually 25%-to be            room to overflowing.
    priced within the means of low- to moderate-income
    families.
      In Seal Beach, city Planning Director Nicholas Ro-
    maniello said the Coastal Commission's policy of re-
    placing all affordable homes that are razed for redeve-
    lopment is economically unfeasible and has discour-
    aged builders.
                                                         44

      But one of the most hotly contested issues is the       A preliminary draft of the Laguna Beach coastal
    Coastal Commission's staff's urging of local govern-    landuse plan recommends opening the Irvine Cove
    ments to require private communities to allow the       beach to the public, but the plan could be amended
    public to walk through their otherwise locked gates to    before the City Council votes on it.
    reach the beach or waterfront during daylight hours.      The Coastal Commission's promotion of broader
      Locked-gate communities that the Coastal Commis-      public access to the coast, whether by encouraging the
    sion staff has singled out include Emerald Bay at the    construction of moderately priced housing, hotels and
    north edge of Laguna Beach, Three Arch Bay in South     restaurants or by opening new beaches, can contri-
    Laguna, Irvine Cove in Laguna Beach, Surfside Colo-     bute to another problem-mounting traffic congestion
    ny in Seal Beach, and Linda Isle, Bayshores and Bal-    on Pacific Coast Highway.
    boa Cove in Newport Beach.
      The Coastal Commission staff has urged the county
    and cities to demand that homeowner associations in
    these communities grant public access to the water
    when they apply for building permits, such as for a
    clubhouse or tennis courts.
      The county Board of Supervisors and the Newport
    Beach and Seal Beach city councils have sided with
    the locked-gate communities in their jurisdictions,
    who are staunchly resisting what they consider an in-
    vasion of their privacy that would open a Pandora's
    box of security and parking problems.

                                                        45

    Los Angeles Times

                                                  TOM JOHNSON
                                                  Publisher and Chief Executie fficer
            Publishers                            WILLIAM F. THOMAS
            HARRISON GRAY OTIS, 1882-1917         Editor and Executive Vice President
            HARRY CHANDLER, 1917-1944
            NORMAN CHANDLER, 1944-1960            CHARLES C. CHASE, Vice President-Operations
            OTIS CHANDLER, 1960-1980              ROBERT L FLANNES, Vice President and Assistant to the Publisher
                                                  JAMES B. GRIDER, Vice President-Production
                                                  ROBERT C. LOBDELL, Vice President and General Counsel
                                                  DONALD S. MAXWELL, Vice President-Finance
                                                  VANCE L STICKELL, Vice President-Sales

                                                  GEORGE J. COTLIAR, Managing Editor
             OTIS CHANDLER                         ANTHONY DAY, Editor of the Editorial Pages
             Editor-in-Chief, Times Mirror 1980-   JEAN SHARLEY TAYLOR, Associate Editor

                                              THURSDAY, MAY 21, 1981

         The Grandeur of the Coast

           Much of what Californians read about their state     More poor people than ever before can afford
         coastal commission is, and must be, written in the    houses along the coast because the commission in-
         heat of battles between outraged property owners    sisted on it, although there never will be enough to
         and rigid regulators.                                go around, even for the rich.
           In a recent series of articles, Times writer Rich-   The record is not spotless. Housing along the
         ard O'Reilly tried a new perspective in tracing five    coast is more expensive than it would have been
         years of trials and triumphs in the attempt to make    because the commission denied so many applica-
         the state Coastal Act work.                          tions to expand the supply. In its early years, the
           He wrote from high ground, so that the Pacific    commission devoted as much attention to permits
         seascape-the beaches, the crashing surf, the quiet    for new railings on beach-cottage porches as it did
         teeming marshes and the rocky coastline-loomed    to applications for thousands of new tract homes.
         larger than the frayed tempers in hearing rooms         The commission forced some property owners to
         and the frustrations of disappointed developers.     spend thousands of extra dollars on engineering,
           From that vantage, the job the commission was    geologic surveys and revisions of construction
         sent to do stands out more clearly than the trou-    plans. It forced others to give up development
         bles it encountered in doing it, and the record looks    plans entirely. Stiff- necked attention to detail of-
         good.                                                ten amounted more to harassment than regulation.
           There are fewer high-rise buildings blocking the     No matter how often one reads the story of Vik-
         sea from the view of passersby than there would    toria Consiglio and her husband, for example, the
         have been absent a coastal law and people to en-    sense of shared grief remains over the loss of their
         force it. Virtually no marshes have been filled or    dream house near Carmel because the dream did
         dammed up, and that is important. By the time    not fit the coastal regulations.
         California moved to regulate coastal development,       But, as O'Reilly points out, the commission im-
         the 300,000 acres of these life-giving coastal nur-    posed its standards as stubbornly on friends of
         series that existed when California was settled had    Gov. Edmund G. Brown Jr. as on the Consighos.
         dwindled to 79,000 acres.                               And the conclusion we draw from the O'Reilly
           There are more paths that the public can follow    series is that the commission has done as well as
         to beaches, but there are still long stretches of    any body of humans could at the impossible task of
         beach that are inaccessible to Californians, who    balancing private rights and public rights without
         are guaranteed access by their constitution.         some loss of one or the other.
                                                          46

      The California Legislature should bear the full   chairman of the Natural Resources Commission,
    record in mind while it addresses new rules for the    has proposed new procedures that would speed up
    next phase of coastal planning and development.     the process by allowing some coastal communities
      The state commission has presided over the    to issue permits before their development plans
    work of six regional commissions since 1976. Each   are completed in detail.
    regional commission has supervised the prepara-       Avoiding an overload of permits is only one
    tion of separate local plans, drawn to fit local con-   problem facing Hannigan's committee. It also must
    ditions within the context of overall state coastal   deal with bills that would soften the protection for
    policy.                                             marshes and wetlands, that would dismantle the
      These 69 local plans will be pieced together to   coastal act altogether, or that would carve chunks
    form a single master plan for coastal development    out of the coastal act, or that would arbitrarily
    when they are completed.                      -    change the coastal zone boundaries to make it eas-
      The regional commissions will expire on June 30.   ier for some developers to build.
    By then, only 25 of the 69 local plans will have      Hannigan and the committee seem to have these
    been finished. During the months-and in some    efforts to weaken the controls over coastal devel-
    cases years-that it will take to complete the last   opment in hand. If they run into trouble with their
    local plan, all applications for permits to build or   colleagues, we have a suggestion.
    rebuild in the coastal zone must go directly to the   They should make for the same high ground
    state commission.                                   from which Times writer O'Reilly wrote, from
      Without some amendments to the law, the per-    which they can see how much larger the grandeur
    mit process could bog down into a de facto mora-   of the California coastline looms than the transito-
    torium on new development along the coast.          ry troubles that arise from trying to protect that
      Assemblyman  Tom  Hannigan  (D-Fairfield),   grandeur.

                                           C~pyprigh 1981 LOS "aing  T-mms

                                 Copyright, 1981, Los
                                 Angeles Times. Reprinted
                                 by permission.

                                                    47