Shoreline showdown — agency head’s job on line
The increasingly bitter fight over an effort to lop off the head of the California Coastal Commission is largely being driven by controversies in tony Malibu and other sandy southland spots, but Bay Area development projects from Sonoma to Half Moon Bay could be affected by the seashore tussle.
Concerned citizens from across the state are expected to crowd into the village of Morro Bay ( San Luis Obispo County) Wednesday to weigh in on the proposed sacking of Charles Lester, executive director of one of the world’s most powerful coastal protection agencies. Environmental groups see a coup attempt by big- shot developers, but Lester’s critics say the problem is his inefficient leadership style.
The decision by the 12 commissioners will de-
cide the fate of a man who had been on the Coastal Commission staff for 22 years before he replaced his retiring predecessor, Peter Douglas, in 2011. The battle over Lester’s tenure is especially poignant in Northern California, where kayakers, surfers, nature lovers and sunbathers consider the rugged beaches a sacred trust.
If Lester is replaced, his successor could help decide whether the public is allowed to pass through private property to visit Martins Beach, in Half Moon Bay, against the wishes of Vinod Khosla, the billionaire property owner. The commission’s decision could also have a major impact on allowing housing in the flood zone at Stinson Beach in Marin County and whether parking meters are installed along the Sonoma County coast.
“The Sonoma coast is particularly in danger, because we’re in the middle of developing our local coastal plan,” said Richard Charter, a senior fellow with the Ocean Foundation, a nonprofit conservation group. It has fought efforts by the California Department of Parks and Recreation to add pay stations, known as “iron rangers,” and charge $ 7 or more to park at 15 state beaches on the Sonoma coast, where access has historically been free.
Dozens of pay machines have been installed in Southern California, and some coastal advocates fear that if Sonoma County gives in, they will go in everywhere, including in Marin County, on the Peninsula and in Santa Cruz. Parking fees, say opponents, will disproportionally hurt lowerincome families trying to visit the coast.
Sonoma County supervisors, at the behest of Charter, the Surfrider Foundation and other open- access advocates, denied the request for the pay stations a few years ago. State parks officials appealed to the Coastal Commission, which determined last year that “a substantial issue exists” and scheduled a hearing for April.
‘ Politicized’
“We’ve got one foot on the dock and another foot on a bar of soap, and we’d hate to see the Coastal Commission move into a more development- oriented footing at this particular time when we are so vulnerable,” Charter said. “This is supposed to be an evenhanded and fair body, and we see it being politicized.”
The effort to oust Lester has been depicted by environmental groups as an attempt to dismantle the California Coastal Act, which Gov. Jerry Brown signed in 1976 during his first stint as governor. They accuse commissioners whom they regard as the most development-friendly — Wendy Mitchell, Martha McClure, Effie Turnbull- Sanders and Erik Howell — of being behind the effort.
Mitchell was one of the commissioners supporting a megaresort on 40 acres of sand dunes that was approved next to Monterey Bay two years ago, and has criticized staff for not being responsive to questions. She was appointed by former Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and reappointed by Brown. The others were appointed by Brown.
Ronstadt controversy
The commissioners aren’t talking — and the governor has declined to weigh in — but it is well known that the Coastal Commission has occasionally been a thorn in Brown’s side. The regulatory body provoked Brown’s wrath in the late 1970s when it denied a construction permit in Malibu for his girlfriend at the time, singer Linda Ronstadt.
State officials, including Brown appointees, were upset with coastal commissioners and staffers who did not support the park department’s revenue- generating plan at Sonoma coast state beaches.
The Sonoma controversy illustrates the kind of regulatory red tape that Lester’s critics say is behind the bid to usher him out the door. They insist that what they want is not more development, but a sped- up process, with more accountability and efficiency.
“It takes a very long time to get anything through the commission process,” said Fred Gaines, a lobbyist who has represented oceanfront property owners from Dustin Hoffman and Steven Spielberg to the U. S. Navy and the Port of Los Angeles. “Even if you want to strictly interpret the Coastal Act, you still could want the agency to act in a timely fashion, so I think that is where this is coming from.”
Insiders have cited Lester’s management style, including complaints that he has been unresponsive to commissioners. Some critics also claim the Coastal Commission staff, which Lester oversees, lacks diversity.
Even coastal advocates admit that removing Lester probably wouldn’t lead to a line of swanky new mansions blocking the riffraff from accessing the 1,100- mile coastline. But they fear it could, depending on who took his place, give big- money interests more say in what happens near the shore. It was, after all, debates over celebrity mansions in Malibu and other sprawling Southern California coastal developments that led to the controversy.
“The Coastal Commission is always under pressure from big, rich developers because the California coast is such a gold mine that all they would need to do is get one permit and then they can retire,” said Huey Johnson, a former state resources secretary and longtime environmental activist. “It’s sad as heck, but there is a real worry about powerful people influencing the Coastal Commission.”
Marin moratorium
Stinson Beach, where plenty of wealthy people own cabins, is one place where a change in leadership could have an effect.
Marin County recently issued a building moratorium within the 100- year flood plain of Easkoot Creek. The prohibition, done at the behest of the Coastal Commission, will impact more than a third of Stinson’s property owners, many of whom would like to have the option to turn their rustic cabins into roomy vacation homes as their neighbors did for years, before the moratorium.
There’s no evidence that Sun Microsystems co- founder and major Democratic donor Khosla is involved in the Lester dispute, but he certainly has an interest in it. Khosla bought Martins Beach in 2008 and gated the only road that led to it, prompting a series of lawsuits accusing him of violating the Coastal Act.
A judge ruled that Khosla must obtain a permit to block access from the Coastal Commission, which at one point sent him a letter threatening fines of $ 11,250 a day dating back to Sept. 19, 2011, when he shut the gate. This kind of battle has been especially hot in southern locales like Malibu.
U2 guitarist the Edge’s proposal to build five mansions in Malibu also ignited a flurry of lawsuits and anger. A scaledback version was recently approved after several years of bitter wrangling, angering conservationists. Pro- development forces complained about the time and money it took to gain approval.
Lester, a scientist and former professor, was handpicked for the job by his predecessor, who helped write the Coastal Act before his death in 2012.
“I accepted the position with the goal of bringing continued professionalism, integrity and steady leadership to our agency and its mission to protect the coast,” he wrote in a 20- page memorandum defending his record. “I was well familiar with the controversy that often surrounds the Commission’s work, but my hope was that I could help to depoliticize the position of executive director.”