REGION: Senator amends Coastal Commission bill

By DAVE DOWNEY - Staff Writer | Friday, April 4, 2008 12:12 PM PDT ∞

In response to heavy opposition from environmentalists, a San Diego state senator has amended a bill curbing the California Coastal Commission's power to appeal local decisions on shoreline hotels, condos and home remodelings.

The 12-member state commission oversees land-use decisions of coastal cities and counties under a mandate to make sure projects don't harm the ocean or restrict public access to the beach.

And if the commission staff doesn't like a particular decision, it can appeal that decision by persuading two commissioners to authorize a review. Then those two participate in a full commission vote on whether the local vote complies with state law.

That's a process some developers and North County officials see as unfair.

Responding those concerns, Sen. Denise Moreno Ducheny, D-San Diego, introduced a bill to strip the commission's ability to launch appeals.

Ducheny said earlier it didn't seem right for the people who decide appeals to initiate them, suggesting instead the commission rely on the public for any appeals.

Commission staffers, however, complained the change would result in many bad decisions going undetected and unchallenged because the public can't track everything. And environmental groups, who side with the commission, have vowed to kill the legislation.

In an attempt to salvage Senate Bill 1295, Ducheny has amended it. The bill maintains the two-commissioner appeal procedure but now would require the commission provide written comments to the entity whose decision is being appealed.

A persistent problem, said Ducheny, has been that cities and counties often don't know what is expected until after the fact. With the latest change, they would, said John Ferrera, Ducheny's chief of staff, in a telephone interview Friday.

"The amendment was raised to address concerns that have been raised by the environmental community," Ferrera said. "What we're trying to do is strike a balance between the need to protect the coastal environment and coastal access, and the need to improve a local planning process that can take years."

The commission staff remains opposed.

"It's not feasible to require the Coastal Commission or its staff to be involved in or to provide written comments on every coastal permit that is filed with a local government along the entire coast, in order to establish the right to appeal later on," said Peter Douglas, agency executive director. "We just don't have the staff to do that. It would be impossible."

Douglas said the agency reviews 1,500 to 2,000 local decisions handed down each year by city and county governments along California's coastline.

It is crucial, for the public's sake, that the agency maintain its ability to appeal developments that have escaped their notice, Douglas said. The environment and the public's rights often hang in the balance, he said.

"The coast is really the only place that a lot of people have left to go to for free recreation," Douglas said.

The bill is scheduled for a hearing before the Senate Natural Resources and Water Committee at 9:30 a.m. Tuesday.

Contact staff writer Dave Downey at (760) 745-6611, Ext. 2623, or ddowney@nctimes.com.

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