California Coastal Commission

U.S. Supreme Court declines to take on challenge to Coastal Commission, but fight's not over yet.The U.S. Supreme Court announced Monday that it will not hear arguments in a legal case about an artificial reef built years ago in the waters near Newport Beach. In June, the California Supreme Court ruled against the Newport Beach-based Marine Forests Society when it determined the California Coastal Commission -- which the society alleged to be unconstitutional -- is a legal body.

Since the time of the ancient Phoenicians and Greeks, everyone has wanted to use land by the sea. The attraction was beauty, recreation and more. A shoreline lot was of enormous commercial value. Shipbuilders, merchants, bankers and assorted tradesmen realized the economic advantage of being where goods arrived and left on a daily basis. Ports were a mecca of industrial activity. After lengthy and often raucous debate, rather than shutting out any of the desirable uses and users of the coast, laws were enacted that gave ownership of the coastal areas to all the people.

The city of Newport Beach on Thursday overcame one huge hurdle in creating a state-required local coastal plan, but the work isn't over yet. The California Coastal Commission unanimously approved the land-use portion of Newport Beach's local coastal plan at a Thursday meeting in San Diego. Environmentalists cheered the decision because the commission agreed with its staff rather than the city on two disputed items -- how to define wetlands and how far to set back buildings from coastal bluffs.

When the California Coastal Commission meets Thursday, it will discuss a long-overdue land-use plan for coastal Newport Beach, but city and coastal commission staff members are still at odds on two key issues. The land-use plan is half of a state-required local coastal plan the city has been working on since 2001. It describes what kinds of development can occur and what resources need to be protected in the city's coastal zone. City officials have been frustrated by how long it's taken the commission to respond to their proposals for the plan, particularly since Newport Beach has racked up $1,000 a month in fines -- now totaling about $26,000 -- since missing a July 2003 deadline to have a plan in place.

The California Coastal Commission has lifted a deadline for Newport Beach officials to report on a destroyed West Newport sand dune. The commission had asked city officials to report the results of an inquiry into the dune's disappearance by Thursday. Newport Beach Police are still investigating the case, but since coastal commission officials expect police to find the responsible party, the deadline was removed. "They made some headway, so the deadline's been lifted," said Andrew Willis, district enforcement analyst for the commission.

After waiting more than a year for the California Coastal Commission to act on a land-use plan for coastal Newport Beach, city officials are getting tough. A letter Newport Beach City Councilman Tod Ridgeway sent to the commission July 22 demands a September hearing on the plan so the city can finish it. The land-use plan is half of a local coastal plan that every city is required, by state law, to have. It describes what development can occur and what resources need to be protected in the coastal zone.

EDUCATION Five Newport-Mesa high schools hold graduations The Newport-Mesa Unified School District held its last week of classes, and all five high schools held graduations Thursday. Among parents in the district, Costa Mesa's Elsie Maurizi may have had the most bountiful day, as she saw four Monte Vista High School seniors -- her son, Gary Maurizi; her foster son, Chris Byrd; and Fara Botzheim and Keola Akana, who formerly lived at her house -- through commencement.

Andrew Edwards The California Supreme Court reversed previous legal victories won by a Newport Beach environmentalist Thursday, publishing an opinion that confirmed the legality of the California Coastal Commission. Writing for a unanimous court, California Chief Justice Ronald George stated the composition of the powerful Coastal Commission does not violate the separation of powers principal by allowing legislators to appoint commission members. The court heard arguments in April.

Andrew Edwards The seven justices of the state Supreme Court weighed arguments Wednesday about whether the California Coastal Commission should be declared unconstitutional, which could open to challenge nearly three decades of decisions about coastal development. The crux of the case -- filed in 2000 by Rodolphe Streichenberger, founder of the Newport Beach-based Marine Forests Society -- is whether the commission's structure is legal. Streichenberger and his attorney Ronald Zumbrun have argued that the body violates the state Constitution's separation of powers.