The voluntary preservation of agricultural lands is a noble goal. Forcing landowners into government-run conservation efforts against their will, however, is something else entirely. And a desire to conserve pastoral farmland doesn’t excuse government from following the laws and constitutions of California and the United States. For several y ...
Last week, I attended the California Coastal Commission meeting at the Inverness Yacht Club near the Point Reyes Seashore. As usual, the Commission scrutinized a wide variety of issues, some mundane, some unusual. These included: whether wireless antennas on the side of telephone poles destroy view sheds; the racial composition of new hires on the ...
PLF keeps tabs on all of the happenings with the California Coastal Commission by attending their monthly meetings. We live tweet those meetings @TheCoastWatch, and provide recaps here at the blog. Here’s a rundown on what happened at the meeting I attended in San Diego last month: • Governor Jerry Brown proposed a $14 million … ...
We’ve all heard about how the California Coastal Commission loves to micromanage and bully coastal cities and counties. Whether it’s second-guessing the most insignificant local project, or requiring municipalities to include in their local laws severe restrictions against property owners, the Commission is rightly seen by many loca ...
On Tuesday, the city council of Newport Beach (California) voted against a resolution supporting additional state funding for the California Coastal Commission. The Commission—which regulates coastal property owners’ use of their lands with an iron fist—has for years been complaining about its lack of resources and staffing l ...
Last week in City of Malibu v. California Coastal Commission, the California Second District Court of Appeal struck down an expansive interpretation of the Coastal Act that would have undermined local governments’ ability to make local land use decisions. This case arose over a dispute between the City of Malibu, the Commission and another ...
A bill from the California Department of Finance that would have eliminated local coastal programs appears to be dead. Under California’s Coastal Act, every local jurisdiction within the coastal zone must produce a local coastal program—essentially a zoning plan for coastal areas. Once the statewide Coastal Commission certifies the ...
Author: Paul J. Beard II Last week, the California Court of Appeal issued an adverse decision in a case concerning the limits of the California Coastal Commission's authority to second-guess locally approved projects. We represent Franco and Sonia DeCicco, who have a permit from San Luis Obispo County to subdivide their Cayucos parcel, and buil ...
Author: Paul J. Beard II In California, coastal cities and counties are encouraged to draft their own land-use codes in compliance with the requirements of the Coastal Act, a state statute that sets broad rules for coastal development. These codes (made a part of the locality's "Local Coastal Program") must be certi ...