Articles

Seattle to change tree rules

August 04, 2010 | By PACIFIC LEGAL FOUNDATION

Author: Daniel Himebaugh The City of Seattle is planning to change its rules to allow homeowners to remove trees from their yards without having to get a permit, according to NWCN.com.  Depending on how the final rules are written, this could be an improvement over the current rules that we blogged about here and here.  … ...

Articles

Government permit conditions? “Pay no attention to that man behind the curtain!”

May 22, 2013 | By CHRISTINA MARTIN

Yesterday, PLF’s Litigation Director Jim Burling debated Richard Grosso of Nova Southeastern University about property rights and case pending before the U.S. Supreme Court, Koontz v. St. Johns River Water Management District. In that case, Coy Koontz applied for a permit to develop 3.7 of the 15 acres he owned in Orange County. The local &# ...

Articles

California Supreme Court takes PLF's seawall case

December 10, 2014 | By PAUL BEARD

Today, the California Supreme Court granted PLF’s petition for review in Lynch v. California Coastal Commission.  The supreme court’s grant means that the court of appeal’s decision in favor of the Commission is vacated, and the case will be set for a new round of briefing and argument next year.  Here’s PLF’s press ...

Articles

Commission Creep : Under rule of dysfunctional coastal agency, every act is illegal "development"

February 12, 2016 | By J. DAVID BREEMER

So this is where the California Coastal Commission experiment ends:  if you put a lock on a gate, paint a billboard, say mean things at a surf break, try to keep trespassers off your coastal land, or move a cow into a new pasture, you are engaging in unpermitted “development” and violating the Coastal Act. Ordinary people … ...

Articles

After 22 years, government compensates PLF client for taking use of property

March 25, 2016 | By CHRISTINA MARTIN

This week, after 22 years of litigation, the St. Johns River Water Management District finally paid the Koontz family for taking the use of Coy Koontz’s property. This case began in 1994, when the St. Johns River Water Management District told Koontz that if he wanted a permit to build on 3.7 acres of his … ...

Articles

Homeowners in Lynch file petition for rehearing in California Supreme Court

July 21, 2017 | By JEREMY TALCOTT

Today, Thomas Frick and the heirs of Barbara Lynch filed this petition, asking the California Supreme Court to grant rehearing in Lynch v. California Coastal Commission. In that decision, the Court held that the two owners had forfeited their right to judicial review of conditions placed on a coastal permit. The owners had asked the California Co ...