Coastal Commission Wins Court Battle Over Illegal Seawall
Written by 991KBU on July 17, 2019
In Laguna Beach … a Superior Court judge had ordered a seawall protecting a house be torn down.
But a one million dollar Coastal Commission fine was invalidated.
The illegal seawall is on Victoria Beach.
The homeowners bought it as an investment property and we’re renting it out.
But the beach had eroded … in the previous owners had installed a temporary seawall.
The new owners in essence build a new house behind the temporary seawall.
They claimed that it was merely a remodel … but the judge agreed with the coastal commission that a new house at been built on top of the old house.
Under a state wide policy of managed retreat … that’s a no-no.
The house should have been built further back from the ocean.
The coastal commission went after the owners … ordered that the house and the seawall be torn down … and doubled the proposed fine … up to one million dollars.
The Orange County register reports that a judge upheld the order to remove the seawall … and the construction above it.
But the one million dollar fine was vacated … the judge ruled that the owners had been giving bad legal advice by the city of Laguna Beach.
One big issue is still unresolved.
The owners of the house argue that the removal of the seawall represents a taking of private property for public use.
They say they may appeal the Superior Court judges ruling.
This article was reported in the Orange County Register … and we have a link to it at the KBUU Newswire.
