Bel Mar Estates v. California Coastal Commission

Opinion

KINGSLEY, J.

Appellants (hereafter petitioners) appeal from a judgment denying their petition for a writ of mandate in a matter involving a permit for a real estate development within the coastal zone. We affirm the judgment.

Petitioners are the owners of a large tract of land in the Santa Monica Mountains, overlooking the Pacific Coast Highway. They desire to subdivide 531 acres of that property, into 174 single family residential lots, averaging 2.3 acres each, together with a 5-acre parcel for stables and pasturage and 2 open-space areas. The plan will involve construction of a new 4-lane highway in Piedra Gorda Canyon, filling that canyon by from 30 to 90 feet. The total grading, including filling of the canyon, grading lot sites, construction of other roads and similar

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related development of the proposed tract will involve 3.6 million cubic yards of material. Since the home sites are to be on the top of ridges, the houses will restrict ocean view from other parts of the Santa Monica Mountains and view of the mountains from significant parts of the ocean and ocean frontage.

The developers have secured approval of the proposed subdivision from the County of Los Angeles and their application for a permit was approved by the Regional Coastal Commission.

1

On appeal to the California Coastal Commission the application was denied. The present action in administrative mandate was brought and mandate was denied. Petitioners have appealed; we affirm.

In this court, petitioners make three contentions: (a) that the California Commission had lost jurisdiction to act on the appeal since more than 21 days had elapsed after the hearing before that commission; (b) the grounds on which the commission denied the application were in error; and (c) that the commission should not have denied the application entirely. We reject all three contentions.

I

The matter came timely on for hearing before the commission on January 17, 1978. At the opening of the hearing, the chairman, in accordance with the commission’s published rules of procedure, announced that each side would be allowed 10 minutes for oral argument and then the hearing would be continued pending the filing and service of the staff report on the application. After the oral argument, the chairman announced that the matter was continued until February 14th for that report. No objection to that procedure was made either by any member of the commission or by the applicant, although that continuance was for more than 21 days. On February 9th the applicant requested, and was granted, a continuance of the matter in order for it to file additional data in support of the application and a second similar continuance was granted. The matter finally came before the commission on May 17th. Applicant was then asked if it desired further argument, waived argument and asked for a vote. The vote, as we have said above, was adverse to the application.