The California Coastal Commission is at it again

March 22, 2010 | By PACIFIC LEGAL FOUNDATION

Author:  Damien M. Schiff

A few weeks ago I reported on a new PLF lawsuit challenging the Coastal Commission's jurisdiction to delay, and possibly stop altogether, a needed cleanup of a brownfield site in Eureka, California.  And today, I argued in the First District Court of Appeal in San Francisco on behalf of the Gualala Festivals Committee, contending that the Commission has no jurisdiction over the Committee's annual 15-minute fireworks display.

Now, the Orange County Register is reporting about another example of Commission overreach.  It seems that the City of Dana Point has imposed some beach access restrictions on account of increased police calls and in anticipation of Spring Break revellers.  Well, the Commission wants the City to take down the signs and the gates to which they are affixed, on the grounds that they are unpermitted development.  The City, however, is contemplating declaring the beach area problems to be a nuisance, which would then exempt the signs and gates from the Commission's jurisdiction.  Definitely a case to watch.