California Coastal Commission at the crossroads

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

A Series of Articles Reprinted From The Los Angeles Times

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

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

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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

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

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.

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.

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

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

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.

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

"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.

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

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

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

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.

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

"'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.

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.

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